Center for Digital Play houses a multi-disciplinary research group with backgrounds in the Arts, Humanities, Social Sciences and Computer Science. The group performs basic and applied research, approaching games from a variety of perspectives including theoretical analysis, design, ethnographic and qualitative approaches, AI, user (cognitive and affective) modeling and player experience. The Center was formally established in 2003, building on ongoing work in the area at the ITU since its founding in 1999.

CULT research engages with how humans evoke meaning and transform culture through technology. CULT does research into culture and technology, especially (but not limited to) digital user cultures, game culture and communication technology.

The Creative AI Lab explores how to make machines more adaptive and creative. We combine approaches from computational evolution, deep learning, and crowdsourcing to investigate the potential of more creative forms of AI in robotics, video games, design, and art. Our group tries to answer questions such as: can we make machines that design, create and surprise us? Can we create machines that learn from and work together with humans to solve tasks that neither humans nor machines can solve by themselves?

MAD is an interdisciplinary research group focusing on experience design and practice-based research in domains such as cultural heritage, art and the creative and cultural industries. Creative practice is central to our research. We believe that groundbreaking technologies can be developed by paying attention to human interests that go beyond the purely rational to also include phenomena like play, affect and aesthetics.