Institute for Creative Technologies

By Dr. Randall W. Hill, Jr. & S.C. Stuart The AI Paradox McKinsey recently reported that half of consumers now use AI-powered search, with the technology poised to impact $750 billion in revenue by 2028. The question for research institutions became urgent: what is your strategy for generative AI engine optimization?  At the USC Institute […]

Kevin Watley has been an integral part of the Institute for Creative Technologies for fifteen years, contributing to the organization’s evolution through both his creative vision and his facilities expertise. Watley has just wrapped directing and editing the 2025 ICT Interns video, the latest in a series he’s been producing since 2011. In the following […]

ICT has just released a new video highlighting interviews and reflections from our 2025 summer interns. The piece was directed, filmed, and edited by Kevin Watley (Watley Designer Media). Each summer, the USC Institute for Creative Technologies welcomes a new group of students eager to explore advanced research at the intersection of artificial intelligence, immersive media, and […]

By Yunzhe Wang, second-year Computer Science PhD student, Viterbi School of Engineering; Researcher Human-inspired Adaptive Teaming Systems (HATS) Lab, USC ICT Yunzhe Wang is a second-year Computer Science Ph.D. student at USC in the Human-Inspired Adaptive Teaming Systems (HATS) Lab, advised by Volkan Ustun and William Swartout, focusing on human-AI collaboration in multi-agent systems as [&#823…

Military.com’s recent feature Artificial Intelligence Comes to the Ranks: The Next Wave of Military Training Tech highlights how AI is reshaping training and readiness across the U.S. armed forces. The article includes ICT’s work developing AI-enabled training materials that generate new scenarios in near real time—turning traditional, slide-based instruction into adaptive, interactive learning e…

ICT’s work in next-generation simulation research is highlighted on Circuit News, the National Academy of Engineering and USC Viterbi’s joint engineering news program. Watch the segment here: https://youtu.be/PF4v1kvod2I?si=nSJg9mRyYRjGZDbg The feature spotlights two major ICT initiatives: • Battle Buddy for Suicide PreventionDeveloped by ICT’s MedVR, Virtual Human Therapeutics Lab (VHTL), and In…

A new feature by Ava Izadi for USC Viterbi spotlights ICT creative producer David Cobbins, a U.S. Army veteran and USC School of Cinematic Arts alumnus whose work bridges military experience, storytelling craft, and advanced virtual training research. Cobbins leads the Emerging Leader Immersive Training Environment (ELITE) in the MxR Lab—ICT’s digital platform that builds real-world leadership an…

By Bayley Camp, Operations Officer, Defense and Intelligence Initiatives, USC Institute for Creative Technologies A few weeks ago, I came across some old college papers. One of them looked at how narratives and stereotypes are represented in modern day video games. Reading it, I couldn’t help thinking about my own path, how I ended up […]

The USC Institute for Creative Technologies (ICT) will present four research papers at the Interservice/Industry Training, Simulation and Education Conference (I/ITSEC) 2025 in Orlando, Florida this December. The Interservice/Industry Training, Simulation and Education Conference (I/ITSEC) is the world’s largest and most influential event dedicated to modeling, simulation, and training. Hel…

Dr. William Swartout, Chief Science Officer at USC Institute for Creative Technologies, will deliver a plenary address at the Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence (AAAI) 2025 Fall Symposium Series on Thursday, November 6, from 9:00-10:30 am at the Westin Arlington Gateway in Arlington, Virginia. Dr. Swartout’s presentation, “Re-thinking Education in the Face of A…

Behind the Scenes at ICT today: USC student writer Ava Izadi interviewed David Cobbins, Creative Producer, Mixed Reality Lab (MxR), for an upcoming article on his work at ICT and prior service as a U.S. Army non-commissioned officer and combat medic. During the interview, David Cobbins presented several of MxR’s research projects, including ELITE: Emergent Leader Immersive Training, [&#8230…

ICT #NextGen: Meet Bayley Camp, Operations Officer, Defense and Intelligence Initiatives, USC Institute for Creative Technologies. We’ve been upgrading our headshots and republishing some of our essays from #ICT25 to celebrate our multigenerational workforce. READ: “What Matters to Generation Next?” by Bayley Camp.

Do you speak Mandarin? Participate in a 30-Minute Online Study and Earn $30!We’re looking for fluent Mandarin users (age 18+).Join our 30-minute online negotiation and communication study Sign up directly with the QR Code in the flyer below or contact gratch@ict.usc.edu  征集流利中文使用者参加线上研究！我们正在进行一项关于沟通与谈判技巧的线上研究，如果您：• 年满18岁• 能流利使用和阅读中文• 目前居住在美国 即可参加这项 30分钟的线上实验，并获得 $30报酬  可直接扫码报名或联系gratch@…

As part of a new series celebrating ICT staff and faculty whose children are also proud Trojans, meet Alesia Gainer, Project Leader and Project Manager, Virtual Humans Group and her daughter Claudia Egan, a marine biology junior in the Marine and Environmental Biology department within USC Dornsife. At ICT, Alesia Gainer, Project Leader and Project […]

The Vision & Graphics Lab (VGL) at the USC Institute for Creative Technologies (ICT) is presenting its latest advances at the 2025 International Conference on Computer Vision (ICCV) in Honolulu this week. Recognized as the premier global forum for computer vision research, ICCV convenes leading scientists, practitioners, and students to examine the latest methodologies, algorithms, […]

David Nelson, director of USC ICT’s Mixed Reality Lab, was interviewed by Deadline’s Matt Grobar for the publication’s recent feature on OpenAI’s Sora 2 platform and its implications for creators and audiences, specifically on how the new video-generation tool is reshaping expectations around content authenticity. In the interview, David Nelson reflected on the acceleratin…

As part of a new series celebrating ICT staff and faculty whose children are also proud Trojans, we begin with Dr. Randall W. Hill, Jr., Vice Dean of the USC Viterbi School of Engineering, Omar B. Milligan Professor of Computer Science (Games and Interactive Media), and Executive Director of the USC Institute for Creative Technologies. […]

The Institute for Creative Technologies hosted a video shoot today to document current research and leadership perspectives across several of its core laboratories. The production was led by Sean Dube, USC Digital Media Production Manager and director of the shoot, with Kristopher Head serving as sound recordist and production assistant. Head, a videographer in his […]

By Dr. Randall W. Hill, Jr., Executive Director, USC Institute for Creative Technologies, Vice Dean, Viterbi School of Engineering, Omar B. Milligan Professor of Computer Science (Games and Interactive Media) The University of Southern California has long been a computing pioneer, from foundational Internet work to breakthrough quantum systems in academia.  Building on this legacy, […]

By Dr. Randall W. Hill, Jr., Vice Dean, Viterbi School of Engineering, Omar B. Milligan Professor of Computer Science (Games and Interactive Media); Executive Director, USC Institute for Creative Technologies When I joined the faculty at USC, artificial intelligence was still a specialized pursuit, shaped more by theory than by operational application. But even then, […]