One of my first journeys in neural networks started over a decade ago with implementing CPPN-NEAT! Back then, I built a clone of ‘Picbreeder…

One of my first journeys in neural networks started over a decade ago with implementing CPPN-NEAT! Back then, I built a clone of ‘Picbreeder’ not only to study the mechanics of neural nets, but to explore the human creativity process itself, and generate some cool abstract art. Neurogram: https://otoro.net/neurogram/ Gallery: https://otoro.net/gallery/ Today, things have come full circle. We are now trying to use modern VLMs and frontier LLM agents within open-ended exploration algorithms. We want to see if we can finally computationally derive the underlying mechanics of human creativity: serendipity, memory, exploration versus exploitation, and novelty search. Can modern AI actually replicate the magic of human open-endedness? Dive into our new AI Picbreeder Experiment here: https://pub.sakana.ai/picbreeder-vlm/ The AI Picbreeder Experiment: Can AI agents be creative when nobody tells them what to create? Blog: https://pub.sakana.ai/picbreeder-vlm In our new #GECCO2026 paper, "In Search of the Ingredients of Open-Endedness: Replicating Picbreeder with Large Vision-Language Models", in co…

Source: David Ha (X) | 2026-07-10