BEGIN:VCALENDAR
VERSION:2.0
PRODID:Linklings LLC
BEGIN:VTIMEZONE
TZID:America/Denver
X-LIC-LOCATION:America/Denver
BEGIN:DAYLIGHT
TZOFFSETFROM:-0700
TZOFFSETTO:-0600
TZNAME:MDT
DTSTART:19700308T020000
RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;BYMONTH=3;BYDAY=2SU
END:DAYLIGHT
BEGIN:STANDARD
TZOFFSETFROM:-0600
TZOFFSETTO:-0700
TZNAME:MST
DTSTART:19701101T020000
RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;BYMONTH=11;BYDAY=1SU
END:STANDARD
END:VTIMEZONE
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTAMP:20250522T212946Z
LOCATION:Bluebird Ballroom
DTSTART;TZID=America/Denver:20240729T090000
DTEND;TZID=America/Denver:20240729T103000
UID:siggraph_SIGGRAPH 2024_sess332_keysp_101@linklings.com
SUMMARY:SIGGRAPH 2024 Opening Session & Keynote Speaker: Mark Sagar, Beyon
 d the Illusion of Life
DESCRIPTION:Mark Sagar (Auckland Bioengineering Institute)\n\nSIGGRAPH 202
 4 officially starts with opening remarks from Conference Chair Andres Burb
 ano, ACM SIGGRAPH leadership, and the ACM President.\n\nRemarks to be foll
 owed by the Keynote Speaker Dr. Mark Sagar.\n\nThe essence of animation is
  creating the illusion of life, convincing the audience that a character i
 s alive and has its own feelings and thoughts. Is it possible to bring an 
 interactive digital character to “life” who can “think,” “feel,” have expe
 riences, and act with volition? What is it, exactly, to think, to feel, to
  experience? In this keynote, Dr. Mark Sagar will discuss his team’s biolo
 gically based approach, where they are developing a virtual nervous system
  analogous to our own, combining computational models of sensory, cognitiv
 e and emotional processes, language, behavior, and motor systems. These sy
 stems activate virtual muscles to animate a virtual face and body, sensing
 , learning, acting, and reacting in real time. The interoperation of these
  systems in face-to-face and shared interactions is exemplified in project
 s like BabyX, a simulated toddler which aims to enhance our comprehension 
 of social learning and behavior — but it can also serve as groundwork for 
 achieving human-like cooperation with future artificial intelligence. Dr. 
 Sagar will elaborate how creating the inner life of a character is strongl
 y linked with the “body,” one of the central thematic focuses of the confe
 rence.\n\nDouble-Academy Award winner Dr. Mark Sagar is the co-founder and
  Former Chief Science Officer of Soul Machines and Director of the Laborat
 ory for Animate Technologies at the Auckland Bioengineering Institute. Mar
 k and his team are bringing technology to life, pioneering the creation of
  autonomously animated virtual humans with virtual brains and nervous syst
 ems — capable of highly expressive face-to-face interaction and real-time 
 learning and emotional response — to create the next generation of human i
 nteraction with biologically inspired artificial intelligence. Mark has a 
 Ph.D. in engineering from the University of Auckland and was a postdoctora
 l fellow at MIT. He previously worked as the special projects supervisor a
 t Weta Digital and Sony Pictures Imageworks and developed technology for t
 he digital characters in blockbusters such “Avatar,” “King Kong,” and “Spi
 derman 2.” His pioneering work in computer-generated faces was recognized 
 with two consecutive Scientific and Engineering Oscars in 2010 and 2011. M
 ark was elected as a fellow of the Royal Society of New Zealand in 2019 an
 d was named New Zealand Innovator of the Year in 2022.\n\nRecording: Lives
 treamed, Recorded\n\nRegistration Category: Full Conference, Full Conferen
 ce Supporter, Virtual Access, Experience, Exhibits Only, Exhibitor Full Co
 nference, Exhibitor Experience, Monday\n\n
END:VEVENT
END:VCALENDAR