Aalto University | Postdoctoral Fellowship on Autotelic Creative Artificial Intelligence

Supervisor & team

• Dr. Christian Guckelsberger (Asst. Prof. for Creative Technologies, School of Science)
• Autotelic Interaction Research (AIR) group at Aalto University

Deadline

Please submit your application by Friday, 3rd April 2026. Ideal start: Summer / early Fall 2026.

The project

We are advertising a fully paid, 2-year postdoctoral researcher position at Aalto University’s School of Science, Department of Computer Science, to work on the project “Autotelic Creative Artificial Intelligence” (ACAI).

Critical at its core, the ACAI project seeks to identify alternative and sustainable paths to “mainstream” creative AI. Rather than optimizing systems to replicate established human aesthetics or processes, we investigate the conditions under which AI might operate as a genuinely creative agent. Amongst other questions, we ask: Can AI be creative in its own right, rather than emulating human creativity? Can such AI be autotelic, i.e., define its own goals and methods of inquiry? What forms of autotelic creativity exist in nature? What is the connection between autotelic creativity and machine agency? How can a system ground its own values as requirement for autotelic behaviour? How could autotelic creative AI impact society positively and negatively?

The project will combine AI/HCI/CogSci theory research on the foundations of such autotelic creative AI with critical artistic practice (PhD researcher – separate ad: http://bit.ly/4rmFFFD) ) on such AI’s potential futures. In close interaction, both lines of work can intersect and will inspire each other. Theoretical research will be guided through an ongoing dialogue with the creative practitioner, other creatives and the wider public (e.g. via exhibitions, art commissions, and public engagement).

In doing so, ACAI aims to critically assess both the positively and negatively transformative societal implications of such systems, while contributing new theoretical, artistic, and technical frameworks for understanding creativity beyond the human realm. The focus is not on shaping AI research through insights from its present use in artistic practice, but through speculative futures envisioned in artistic work. Artists are primarily seen as research contributors, not users.

The project is supported by collaborators and mobility partners Prof. Tom Froese (OIST), Prof. Jon McCormack (Monash University) and Prof. Takashi Ikegami (University of Tokyo).

The position

We seek a creative and open-minded postdoctoral researcher who is intellectually and technologically curious, disciplinarily promiscuous, investigative in their research and who enjoys convening and dialoguing across genres led by their (post)humanist values. We are open to different research backgrounds, but candidates must demonstrate alignment with ACAI’s non-anthropocentric orientation and existing research expertise with one or several of the following concepts: machine creativity, agency, autonomy, intrinsic motivation, value grounding and open-endedness. Example disciplines include AI, cognitive science, computational creativity, theoretical biology, HCI and artificial life. If in doubt, please contact us with your profile (details below).

The ideal candidate is a reflective thinker with the ability and motivation to:

1. Survey and translate between research on a wide range of relevant concepts (above).
2. Engage with different types of research, including e.g. empirical studies from Psychology on animal creativity and AI papers on formal accounts of agency (examples below).
3. Communicate their insights at an appropriate level of abstraction to the artistic member of the team and, vice versa, engage with the artistic work to inform their research.

A strong application will support each point by reference to past activities. Next to research synthesis, ACAI has space for the candidate to advance specific research on any of the involved concepts. Throughout the project, the candidate will work closely with the artistic practitioner and supervisor. A partner from Aalto University’s School of Arts will complement the team.

Location, Duties & Compensation

Aalto is located in the Helsinki metropolitan area, Finland. The applicant is expected to relocate.

The position is for 2 years and compensated with 4140.- EUR/month, which is complemented with an annual holiday bonus and occupational healthcare benefits.

They are expected to dedicate 5% of their time to teaching (e.g. lectures, teaching support, supervision of theses), matched with their individual skills and research. Moreover, they are expected to engage in overseas travel (e.g. research collaborations and conferences).

For their net income, candidates can check out vero.fi calculators. For an overview of living costs in Finland and the Helsinki metropolitan area, see https://infofinland.fi/settling-in-finland.

How to apply

Please submit the following documents via our Workday system: click “apply”

• Cover letter (1 page, A4, 11pt): please motivate, without fabulation, your interest in this project and describe your fit to the job ad with reference to prior accomplishments as further detailed in further documents. Use emphasis for your key points.
• Up-to-date CV: incl. contact details of two academic/professional references (no letters).
• List of publications: including a link to your Google Scholar profile. Please select at most five publications and argue how they fit this project (justification at most 1 page, A4).

We encourage candidates with diverse backgrounds to apply, especially if their specific discipline was not listed above but fits with the project’s questions and concepts. We seek to hire a postdoc and doctoral researcher to complement each other based on their skills and interests.

Example literature

The applicant is expected to be interested in and capable of engaging with literature such as:

• Froese, T., Weber, N., Shpurov, I. and Ikegami, T., 2023. From autopoiesis to self-optimization: Toward an enactive model of biological regulation. Biosystems, 230.
• Epstein, R., 2015. Of course animals are creative: Insights from generativity theory. In Animal creativity and innovation (pp. 375-393). Academic Press.
• Ryan, R.M. and Deci, E.L., 2000. Intrinsic and extrinsic motivations: Classic definitions and new directions. Contemporary educational psychology, 25(1), pp.54-67.
• Jääskeläinen, Holzapfel & Eriksson. 2024. AI Art for Self-Interest or Common Good? Uncovering Value Tensions in Artists’ Imaginaries of AI Technologies. In Proc. DIS.
• Weber, N., Guckelsberger, C. and Froese, T., 2025. Untapped Potential in Self-Optimization of Hopfield Networks: The Creativity of Unsupervised Learning. Artificial Life, 31(4).

Further Information

• For questions on the position: Christian Guckelsberger (christian.guckelsberger@aalto.fi)
• For HR-related questions: hr-cs@aalto.fi
• Autotelic Interaction Research Group: www.autotelic.science

Application and more details: https://aalto.wd3.myworkdayjobs.com/PrivateJobPosting/job/Tietotekniikan-talo/Postdoctoral-Researcher-Position–2-years–Project–Autotelic-Creative-Artificial-Intelligence–ACAI-_R45761