CV | benswift.me

Ben Swift

Position: Senior Lecturer & Cybernetic Studio Lead, ANU School of Cybernetics
Email: [email protected]
Website: benswift.me

Research interests

AI education and demystification—making the mechanics of language models legible through hands-on, unplugged pedagogy
agentic AI workflows and their implications for software development practice
human-AI creative systems, from livecoded music to adversarial art
critical perspectives on machine learning—explainability, governance (including open-data monitoring of government AI use), and the politics of automation
livecoding and computational art

Selected projects

These are active research-through-practice projects from the Cybernetic Studio at the ANU School of Cybernetics.

LLMs Unplugged — hands-on teaching resources where learners build language models with pen, paper, and dice. Delivered to 1,000+ participants across primary, secondary, tertiary, and executive education contexts. Published at ACE 2026.
VLM Perception Experiments — controlled experiments testing whether vision language models can determine occlusion order in visual scenes, with statistical analysis across multiple frontier models.
APS AI Tracker — an open-data, daily version-controlled archive of the AI transparency statements published by Australian Government agencies, tracking how AI governance policies evolve over time.
Slop University — a typesetter that presses a fictional university’s visual identity over real and fabricated documents until the two are hard to tell apart.
Slop Salon (with Jess Herrington) — six AI agents making art on Bluesky, booted from identical files to see whether watching each other is enough to make them individuate.
LLM Brainscan — visualises transformer weight changes during training on an 8K display, one pixel per parameter.
Perceptron Apparatus — a 1.2-metre diameter physical device that performs artificial neural network calculations by hand. Launched at SXSW Sydney 2025.
COMP4020/8020: Agentic Coding Studio — new ANU course (first offered S2 2026, 130 students) on LLM-agent-driven software development workflows, moving beyond naive vibecoding to a studio-based iterate-and-test approach.

Education

2012 PhD in Computer Science, Australian National University. Thesis: “The Design of a Smartphone-Based Digital Musical Instrument for Jamming”
2007 Bachelor of Science (Honours 1st class, mathematics & physics major), Australian National University
2005 Certificate IV in Music Performance, Canberra Institute of Technology

Employment history

2021– Senior Lecturer (Level C), ANU School of Cybernetics. Leads the Cybernetic Studio and its Human-Scale AI program—a research-through-practice initiative building things to think with at the intersection of AI, creativity, and public understanding.
2018–2021 Senior Lecturer (Level C), ANU Research School of Computer Science
2017–2018 Lecturer (Level B), ANU Research School of Computer Science
2013–2016 Postdoctoral Research Fellow (Level B), ANU Research School of Computer Science
2012 Postdoctoral Research Fellow, QUT Institute for Future Environments

Grants

2026 Anthropic Claude API credits for COMP4020 Agentic Coding Studio, with Alex Potanin (~$500k in-kind)
2026 Stateful AI Agents and Creative Collaboration, with Jess Herrington ($35k)
2020–2022 CECS Reimagine Fellowship (inaugural; 0.4 FTE buyout)—produced the c/c/c studio curriculum and EXTN1019
2019 ANU College of Arts and Social Sciences Teaching and Learning Fellowship ($10k)
2018 RSHA Interdisciplinary/Cross-College Collaborative Research Scheme ($15k)
2018 The ANU School of Music Sound Recording App ($17k)
2017 ANU Vice Chancellor’s College Visiting Artist Fellowship ($5k)
2016 Google Summer of Code ($7k)
2016 ANU Vice Chancellor’s College Visiting Artist Fellowship ($5k)
2015 New Colombo Plan: “Internet of Things” Program at Beijing Institute of Technology ($132k)

Prizes and awards

2026 ANU College of Systems and Society Education Award (Transdisciplinary Teaching) — Cybernetics KNoTs team, McCusker Institute
2026 ANU College of Systems and Society Education Award — School of Cybernetics Learning Experiences (LX) team
2018 Vice Chancellor’s Citation for Outstanding Contribution to Student Learning
2017 CECS Dean’s Award for Excellence in Education
2012 CECS Dean’s Award for Outreach

Professional service

2027 Co-General Chair, Australasian Computer Science Week (ACSW), hosted at ANU
2020 General Chair, Australasian Computer Music Conference (ACMC)
2019–2021 Vice-President, Australasian Computer Music Association (ACMA)
2010–2012 Treasurer, Australasian Computer Music Association (ACMA)

Peer-reviewed publications

2026

Hidden in Plain Sight: Occlusion Edge Blur as a Perceptual Blind Spot in Multimodal LLMs

Herrington, Jessica and Swift, Ben

Proceedings of the 5th ACM International Workshop on Multimedia AI against Disinformation

PDF
LLMs Unplugged: Teaching Resources for a ChatGPT World

Swift, Ben

Proceedings of the 28th Australasian Computing Education Conference

PDF

2025

Emerging Paradigms in Human–AI Creativity: From Visualisation to Biofeedback in Adaptive Interfaces

Herrington, Jessica C. and Biedermann, Thomas A. J. and Swift, Ben

Human-Computer Creativity: Generative AI in Education, Art, and Healthcare

PDF
PANIC!

Swift, Ben

Proceedings of the International Conference on New Interfaces for Musical Expression

PDF
Semantic Topologies in the Recursive Application of Generative AI Models

Swift, Ben and Hong, Sungyeon

2025 IEEE International Conference on Systems, Man, and Cybernetics (SMC)

PDF

2022

Having a Ball: A Linked Data Approach to Fancy Dress in Colonial Australia

Gatti, Tommy and Nurmikko-Fuller, Terhi and Pickering, Paul and Swift, Ben

DH '22: Proceedings of the International Conference of the Alliance of Digital Humanities Organizations
Automatic Gloss Dictionary for Sign Language Learners

Xu, Chenchen and Li, Dongxu and Li, Hongdong and Suominen, Hanna and Swift, Ben

Proceedings of the 60th Annual Meeting of the Association for Computational Linguistics: System Demonstrations

PDF

2021

Spatial Anchor Based Indoor Asset Tracking

He, Wennan and Xi, Mingze and Gardner, Henry and Swift, Ben and Adcock, Matt

IEEE VR '21: Proceedings of the IEEE Conference on Virtual Reality and 3D User Interfaces (VR)

PDF
High Resolution and Labeling Free Studying the 3D Microstructure of the Pars Tensa-Annulus Unit of Mice

Wu, Jian-Ping and Yang, Xiaojie and Wang, Yilin and Swift, Ben and Adamson, Robert and Zheng, Yongchang and Zhang, Rongli and Zhong, Wen and Chen, Fangyi

Frontiers in Cell and Developmental Biology

PDF

2020

Starting With SOAP: Rapid Deployment of Contract Tracing in a Pandemic

Broad, Ellen and Sheel, Meru and Lazar, Seth and Thampapillai, Dilan and Trumpf, Jochen and McLennan, Amy and Reid, Kathy and Bentley, Caitlin and Daniell, Katherine and Swift, Ben and Tiu, Alwen and Williams, Graham and Kasirzadeh, Atoosa and Uren, Tom

PDF
Disruption and Creativity in Live Coding

Attanayake, Ushini and Swift, Ben and Gardner, Henry and Sorensen, Andrew

VL/HCC '20: IEEE Symposium on Visual Languages and Human-Centric Computing

PDF
Camera Adversaria

Browne, Kieran and Swift, Ben and Nurmikko-Fuller, Terhi

CHI '20: Proceedings of the 2020 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems

PDF
Eating Computers Considered Harmful

Browne, Kieran and Swift, Ben and Nurmikko-Fuller, Terhi

Alt.CHI '20: Extended Abstracts of the 2020 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems

PDF
Enacting Collective Ownership Economies within Amazon’s Mechanical Turk

Browne, Kieran and Swift, Ben

Proceedings of "Worker-Centered Design: Expanding HCI Methods for Supporting Labor" Workshop at CHI'20

PDF
Semantics and Explanation: Why Counterfactual Explanations Produce Adversarial Examples in Deep Neural Networks

Browne, Kieran and Swift, Ben

PDF
Artists and Master-Coders in the Consensual Domain

Curran, Tony and Wang, Weidi and Swift, Ben

Proceedings of "Where Art Meets Technology: Integrating Tangible and Intelligent Tools in Creative Processes" Workshop at CHI'20

PDF
TSPNet: Hierarchical Feature Learning via Temporal Semantic Pyramid for Sign Language Translation

Li, Dongxu and Xu, Chenchen and Yu, Xin and Zhang, Kaihao and Swift, Ben and Suominen, Hanna and Li, Hongdong

NeurIPS '20: Poster Proceedings of the Thirty-Fourth Conference on Neural Information Processing Systems

PDF
Analysis and Visualisation of Complex Familial Relationships in Greek Mythology

Lu, Yaya Chenyue and Swift, Ben and Hawes, Greta

DH '20: Proceedings of the International Conference of the Alliance of Digital Humanities Organizations (Peer-Reviewed Poster)
Introduction to Music-Making in Extempore (Workshop)

Swift, Ben

ICLC'20: Proceedings of the 2020 International Conference on Live Coding

PDF

2019

Reducing Latency in a Collaborative Augmented Reality Service

He, Wennan and Swift, Ben and Gardner, Henry and Xi, Mingze and Adcock, Matt

VRCAI '19: Proceedings of the 17th International Conference on Virtual-Reality Continuum and Its Applications in Industry

PDF
Two Perspectives on Rebooting Computer Music Education: Composition and Computer Science

Swift, Ben and Martin, Charles Patrick and Hunter, Alexander

ACMC '19: Proceedings of the 2019 Australasian Computer Music Conference

PDF
Analysis and Visualization of Narrative in Shanhaijing Using Linked Data

Wang, Qian and Nurmikko-Fuller, Terhi and Swift, Ben

DH '19: Proceedings of the International Conference of the Alliance of Digital Humanities Organizations

PDF

2018

Critical Challenges for the Visual Representation of Deep Neural Networks

Browne, Kieran and Swift, Ben and Gardner, Henry

Human and Machine Learning: Visible, Explainable, Trustworthy and Transparent

PDF
The Other Side: Algorithm As Ritual in Artificial Intelligence

Browne, Kieran and Swift, Ben

Alt.CHI '18: Extended Abstracts of the 2018 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems

PDF
Thoughts on an ANU Laptop Ensemble: Where Do New Media Creators Fit in the Modern University?

Swift, Ben and Hunter, Alexander

Code2k18: A Media Conference of Platforms, Devices and Screens

2017

"Social Hypergraph Analysis": Towards an Operationalisation of Actor-Network Theory Using Hypergraphs

Graham, Timothy and Ackland, Robert and Rizoiu, Marian-Andrei and Swift, Ben

67th Annual Conference of the International Communication Association

PDF
High-resolution study of the 3D collagen fibrillary matrix of Achilles tendons without tissue labelling and dehydrating

Wu, Jian-Ping and Swift, Ben and Becker, Thomas and Squelch, Andrew and Wang, Allan and Zheng, Yong-Chang and Zhao, Xuelin and Xu, Jiake and Xue, Wei and Zheng, Minghao and Lloyd, David and Kirk, Thomas Brett

Journal of Microscopy

PDF

2016

InfiniCloud 2.0: Distributing High Performance Computing across Continents.

Chrzeszczyk, Jakub and Howard, Andrew and Chrzeszczyk, Andrzej and Swift, Ben and Davis, Peter and Low, Jonathan and Tan, Tin Wee and Ban, Kenneth

Supercomputing Frontiers and Innovations

PDF
Intelligent Agents and Networked Buttons Improve Free-Improvised Ensemble Music-Making on Touch-Screens

Martin, Charles and Gardner, Henry and Swift, Ben and Martin, Michael

CHI '16: Proceedings of the 2016 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems

PDF
Live Programming in Scientific Simulation

Swift, Ben and Sorensen, Andrew and Gardner, Henry and Davis, Peter and Decyk, Viktor K.

Supercomputing Frontiers and Innovations

PDF

2015

Texture Analysis of the 3D Collagen Network and Automatic Classification of the Physiology of Articular Cartilage

Duan, Xiaojuan and Wu, Jianping and Swift, Ben and Kirk, Thomas Brett

Computer Methods in Biomechanics and Biomedical Engineering

PDF
Music of 18 Performances: Evaluating Apps and Agents with Free Improvisation

Martin, Charles and Gardner, Henry and Swift, Ben and Martin, Michael

ACMC '15: Proceedings of the 2015 Australasian Computer Music Conference

PDF
Tracking Ensemble Performance on Touch-Screens with Gesture Classification and Transition Matrices

Martin, Charles and Gardner, Henry and Swift, Ben

NIME '15: Proceedings of the International Conference on New Interfaces for Musical Expression

PDF

2014

Exploring Percussive Gesture on iPads with Ensemble Metatone

Martin, Charles and Gardner, Henry and Swift, Ben

CHI '14: Proceedings of the 2014 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems

PDF
Metatravels and Metalonsdale: Ipad Apps for Percussive Improvisation

Martin, Charles and Gardner, Henry and Swift, Ben

CHI '14: Extended Abstracts of the 2014 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems

PDF
Visualising a Live Coding Arts Process

Purcell, Arrian and Gardner, Henry and Swift, Ben

OZCHI '14: Proceedings of the 26th Australasian Conference on Computer-Human Interaction

PDF
The Many Meanings of Live Coding

Sorensen, Andrew and Swift, Ben and Riddell, Alistair

Computer Music Journal

PDF
Coding Livecoding

Swift, Ben and Sorensen, Andrew and Martin, Michael and Gardner, Henry

CHI '14: Proceedings of the 2014 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems

PDF
Networked Livecoding at VL/HCC 2013

Swift, Ben and Gardner, Henry and Sorensen, Andrew

VL/HCC '14: IEEE Symposium on Visual Languages and Human-Centric Computing

PDF

2013

Chasing a Feeling: Experience in Computer Supported Jamming

Swift, Ben

Music and Human-Computer Interaction

PDF
Visual Code Annotations for Cyberphysical Programming

Swift, Ben and Sorensen, Andrew and Gardner, Henry and Hosking, John

LIVE '13: 1st International Workshop on Live Programming at ICSE

PDF

2012

Becoming-Sound: Affect and Assemblage in Improvisational Digital Music Making

Swift, Ben

CHI '12: Proceedings of the 2012 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems

PDF
The Design of a Smartphone-Based Digital Musical Instrument for Jamming

Swift, Ben

ANU Library Open Research

PDF

2011

A Chasing After the Wind: Experience in Computer-supported Group Musicmaking

Swift, Ben and Gardner, Henry and Riddell, Alistair

Proceedings of "When Words Fail: What Can Music Interaction Tell Us about HCI?" Workshop at British HCI

PDF
Impish Grooves

Swift, Ben

Computer Music Journal

2010

Engagement Networks in Social Music-making

Swift, Ben and Gardner, Henry and Riddell, Alistair

OZCHI '10: Proceedings of the 22nd Australasian Conference on Computer-Human Interaction

PDF

2009

Distributed Performance in Live Coding

Swift, Ben and Gardner, Henry and Riddell, Alistair

ACMC '09: Proceedings of the 2009 Australasian Computer Music Conference

PDF

2007

Mind-Modulated Music in the Mind Attention Interface

Swift, Ben and Sheridan, James and Zhen, Yang and Gardner, Henry

OZCHI '07: Proceedings of the 19th Australasian Conference on Computer-Human Interaction

PDF

Teaching

See my teaching page for current and past courses.

Curated livecoding performances

2025

SMCClab live #1

Ben Swift

SMCClab Live concert series

PK Big Band Room, ANU School of Music

video · DOI

2020

ICLC'20 Algorave

Ben Swift, Giovanni Muzio

International Conference on Live Coding (ICLC) 2020

Flannery's Bar, Limerick, Ireland

video · DOI
smoke

Ben Swift, Fiona Sullivan, Kieran Browne

smoke

PK Big Band Room, ANU School of Music

video · DOI

2019

Colour Coded

Ben Swift, Kieran Browne, Charles Martin

Ildiko Kovacs: The DNA of Colour exhibition

Drill Hall Gallery, Canberra

video · DOI
CECS Welcome Party 2019

Ben Swift, Kieran Browne

CECS Welcome Party 2019

ANU College of Engineering, Computing and Cybernetics

Excerpt · DOI

2018

Shirty Science Season 3 launch party

Ben Swift, Kieran Browne

Shirty Science Season 3

Doughnut Dept., Canberra

DOI
National Science Week '18 ACT Launch Event

Ben Swift, Kieran Browne

National Science Week 2018

Molo Bar, Australian National University

video · DOI
Soundscapes Concert Series #21

Ben Swift

Soundscapes Concert Series

Smiths Alternative Bookshop, Canberra

video · DOI
National Invention Convention '18 Closing Ceremony

Ben Swift

National Invention Convention 2018

Questacon, Canberra

DOI

2017

National Science Week '17 ACT Launch Event

Ben Swift

National Science Week 2017

National Film and Sound Archive, Canberra

DOI

2015

Collected Resonances: Session 2

Ben Swift

Collected Resonances concert series

ANU School of Music, Canberra

Crowd video · DOI
Innovation ACT 2015 Launch

Ben Swift

Innovation ACT 2015

John Curtin School of Medical Research, Canberra

Excerpt · DOI

2014

The AP Sessions

Ben Swift

The AP Sessions

Australian National University

Aesthetic visuals · Didactic visuals · Study: no visuals · Study: with visuals · DOI
ACMC '14: Australasian Computer Music Conference

Ben Swift, Andrew Sorensen

Australasian Computer Music Conference (ACMC) 2014

Victorian College of the Arts, Melbourne

DOI
John Hosking Farewell Reception

Ben Swift

John Hosking Farewell Reception

Drill Hall Gallery, Canberra

video · DOI
"Art, Not Apart" Festival

Ben Swift, Torben Sko

Art, Not Apart Festival 2014

Kendall Lane Theatre, New Acton, Canberra

Opening fragment · DOI
"You Are Here" Festival - in case of sound: round one

Ben Swift

You Are Here Festival 2014

Canberra Museum and Gallery

DOI

2013

ICOMOS 2013: International Council on Monuments and Sites

Ben Swift

International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS) 2013

Mt Stromlo Observatory, Canberra

DOI
Revenant Media: Theremin '75 Exhibition

Ben Swift

Revenant Media: Theremin '75 exhibition

ANU School of Art Gallery, Canberra

Crowd video · Screencapture (re-recorded) · DOI
Musical Metacreation (MuMe) Algorave at ISEA 2013: International Symposium on Electronic Art

Ben Swift, Andrew Sorensen

International Symposium on Electronic Art (ISEA) 2013

107 Projects, Redfern, NSW, Australia

video · DOI

2009

Beginning-Middle-End Festival

Ben Swift

Beginning-Middle-End Festival

ANU School of Art Gallery, Canberra

video · DOI
ACMC '09: Australasian Computer Music Conference

Ben Swift

Australasian Computer Music Conference (ACMC) 2009

Queensland University of Technology

DOI

2008

Transmissions in Sound

Ben Swift

Transmissions in Sound

ANU School of Music, Canberra

DOI

CV

Ben Swift#

Research interests#

Selected projects#

Education#

Employment history#

Grants#

Prizes and awards#

Professional service#

Peer-reviewed publications#

2026

2025

2022

2021

2020

2019

2018

2017

2016

2015

2014

2013

2012

2011

2010

2009

2007

Teaching#

Curated livecoding performances#

2025

2024

2022

2021

2020

2019

2018

2017

2015

2014

2013

2009

2008

Ben Swift

Research interests

Selected projects

Education

Employment history

Grants

Prizes and awards

Professional service

Peer-reviewed publications

Teaching

Curated livecoding performances