Dr. Dava Newman, Manu Prakash, and Dr. Mark Sagar will also deliver Keynotes, sharing their perspectives for building a technological future taking us forward into the next half century; the event runs July 28–August 1 at the Colorado Convention Center.
SIGGRAPH 2024, the premier conference and exhibition on computer graphics and interactive techniques, has announced Jensen Huang, Dr. Dava Newman, Manu Prakash, and Dr. Mark Sagar will headline the Keynote Presentations. The speakers will share their perspectives on building the most desirable technological future on all scales and advancing computer graphics and interactive techniques into the next half-century.
The 51st annual conference hosted by ACM SIGGRAPH runs July 28 – August 1 at the Colorado Convention Center, with a companion virtual access component. Register for SIGGRAPH 2024 here.
"As SIGGRAPH emphasizes what the conference is and explores new territories, we are investing a lot of energy in bringing a wide array of world-class visionaries and leaders to be our Keynote Speakers," said SIGGRAPH 2024 Conference Chair Andres Burbano of the Open University of Catalonia. "Jensen Huang will talk about the philosophy behind NVIDIA's transformation from a company working in graphics to being the worldwide motor of artificial intelligence computing. Dr. Mark Sagar will share his expertise as a bioengineer who developed computational models of his work and changed the film industry and has now brought them to life to impact how we interact in real-time with artificial intelligence. Dr. Dava Newman will talk about the impact of computer graphics and interactive techniques in planning and executing interplanetary trips or missions — emphasizing one of Colorado's largest industries, aerospace. In addition, Prakash will share findings from some of his scientific experimental work in the microscopic domain developing tools that he is also active in implementing."
Beyond the Illusion of Life
Presented by Dr. Mark Sagar: Academy Award winner Dr. Sagar is co-founder and chief scientific officer of Soul Machines and director of the Laboratory for Animate Technologies at the Auckland Bioengineering Institute.
July 29, 2024, 9:00 am–10:30 am MDT
The essence of animation is creating the illusion of life, convincing the audience that a character is alive and has its own feelings and thoughts. Is it possible to bring an interactive digital character to "life" who can "think," "feel," have experiences, and act with volition? What is it, exactly, to think, to feel, to experience? In his keynote, Dr. Sagar will discuss his team's biologically based approach, where they are developing a virtual nervous system analogous to our own, combining computational models of sensory, cognitive, and emotional processes, language, behavior, and motor systems. These systems 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 projects like BabyX, a simulated toddler that 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 strongly linked with the "body," one of the central thematic focuses of the conference.
NVIDIA CEO Fireside Chat: AI and Graphics for the New Computing Revolution
Presented by Jensen Huang: Huang founded NVIDIA in 1993 and has served since its inception as president, chief executive officer, and a member of the board of directors.
July 29, 2024, 2:30 pm–3:30 pm MDT
In this fireside chat, Huang sits down with Lauren Goode, senior writer at WIRED, to discuss how accelerated computing and generative AI are transforming industries such as manufacturing and creating new opportunities for innovation and growth. The convergence of AI and advanced computing, from AI PCs to AI factories to digital twins, is driving this transformation. It's the beginning of a new industrial revolution.
Jensen will speak with Goode about the impact of robotics and AI in industrial digitization, illustrating how industry sectors are adopting autonomous operations and building city-scale digital twins to increase efficiency and reduce costs. Jensen will also answer questions from the SIGGRAPH community.
Humanity Becoming Interplanetary: Exploring Space for Earth
Presented by Dr. Dava Newman: Dr. Newman is the director of the MIT Media Lab, holds the Apollo Program Professor of Astronautics chair at MIT, and is a Harvard–MIT Health Sciences and Technology faculty member.
July 30, 2024, 9:00 am-10:30 am MDT
Dr. Newman's keynote presentation will cover the theme of "Humanity Becoming Interplanetary: Exploring Space for Earth." Our amazing Webb Space Telescope discoveries to recent space science missions to Pluto and Jupiter, the discovery of thousands of exoplanets, and orbital missions to monitor Spaceship Earth provide a cosmic perspective. Humanity will become interplanetary and find life elsewhere; however, Mars is not "Plan B". Spaceship Earth, our pale blue dot, is the most magnificent planet for humanity to thrive. Earth is speaking to us — are we listening? A visual, interactive Earth Mission Control is revealed that will help take actions to regenerate Earth's oceans, land, and atmosphere subsystems. The "overview effect" from space lets us appreciate Earth's interconnected systems through supercomputer data visualizations and hyper-local narratives of natural disasters to accelerate collective actions for a healthier future between humanity and our home planet.
The Often Unseen World
Presented by Manu Prakash: Prakash is an associate professor of bioengineering at Stanford University, a Senior Fellow at the Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment, a Pew Scholar, and the co-inventor of the Foldscope and co-founder of Foldscope Instruments.
July 31, 2024, 9:00 am–10 a.m. MDT
In Prakash's keynote presentation, he will take attendees on a "microscopic" journey of the often unseen world — a delight of creatures most beautiful and marvelous with dazzling graphical feats. Come for the science and stay for the community-enabled discoveries made around the world.
Learn more about the SIGGRAPH 2024 Keynote Speakers by checking out the full program here.
Source: SIGGRAPH 2024
Debbie Diamond Sarto is news editor at Animation World Network.
