In an AI-enhanced future, humans will become better at everything. The machine targets real-world artificial intelligence challenges designed to help address issues related to climate change, and urbanization in cities. X Machine is a mini accelerator workshop course designed to unite computer science and design/architecture together to design and create innovative and impactful technological solutions to problems in the built and human environment. This half-semester course promotes the development of strategic thinking and technical exploration in the realm of AI, focusing on problem framing and early-stage ideation.

The course will allow students to develop a foundational knowledge of AI within an interdisciplinary context. Students will learn how to design and create a prototype, learn how to maximize their engagement with their users/customers, and learn how to determine the value proposition that will make an AI-empowered startup successful. By the end of this class, students will be able to develop a conceptual business plan for an AI-based technology solution and apply to other programs at MIT such as DesignX, Sandbox, Delta V, The Engine, and more. 

How can you build your own creative practice in today’s international landscape—one that is sustainable, leverages innovation, and contributes meaningfully to the future of the cultural and creative sectors?

This half-semester course offers you, as a student in the arts, cultural, and creative fields, fundamental tools and strategies for designing your career as an independent professional or studio founder.

You will:

A) Develop an understanding of the international framework of institutions, relationships, and policies that support professionals aiming to create impact through their creative practice—and learn how this knowledge can help you shape offerings that stand out and create a competitive advantage.
B) Learn concepts and mechanisms commonly found in the economics of art and culture, and explore how critical issues can be transformed into strategic opportunities.
C) Examine the diverse types of value generated by cultural production, discover how to combine them into distinctive offerings, and effectively communicate and market your work. You’ll also study business models within the creative industries and develop the adaptability to navigate evolving markets.
D) Acquire practical skills in branding, legal business structures, and intellectual property—enabling you to protect and leverage your creative output while building a sustainable professional practice.
 

How do you go from a moment of obligation to starting or accelerating a movement?

This course explores the difference between innovation, social innovation, and systems change for social impact. Students interested in navigating complex environmental and social problems will explore frameworks and case studies from real systems change innovators to develop a more comprehensive view of complex problems and the systems they are part of —systems that often keep those problems in place.

In the course, you will apply experiential tools and methods to interrogate your own call to action, strengths, and gaps to address complex problems or needs. You will gain an understanding of the importance of understanding problems from the impact target’s perspective and explore innovative ways to create a scalable movement that ultimately can change a system. The final deliverable from the course is writing a case study on system change based on detailed actor mapping and interviews where you share your deeper understanding of a system you care about.

4.341 U / 4.342 G

Introduces history and contemporary practices in artistic photography through projects, lectures, artist visits, group discussions, readings, and field trips. Fosters visual literacy and aesthetic appreciation of photography/digital imaging, as well as critical awareness of how images in our culture are produced and constructed. Provides instruction in the fundamentals of different camera formats, film exposure and development, lighting, black and white darkroom printing, and digital imaging. Assignments allow for incorporation of a range of traditional and experimental techniques, development of technical skills, and personal exploration. Throughout the term, present and discuss projects in a critical forum. 

Additional work required of students taking the graduate version. 

Examines artistic practice as a form of critical inquiry and knowledge production. Offers opportunity to develop art as a means for addressing the social, cultural, and ecological consequences of technology, to build bridges between industry and culture, and to challenge the boundaries between public and private, and human and non-human. Provides instruction in evaluating models of experimentation, individual research, and collaboration with other disciplines in the arts, culture, science, and technology. Supports the development of individual and collective artistic research projects. 

Additional work required of students taking the graduate version. 

Combines the critical lens of art with the innovation framework of DesignX, promoting introspection and deliberation before diving into thoughtful design interventions. Initiates a transdisciplinary collaboration between ACT and the Morningside Academy for Design through DesignX. Students design and present visual representations on the social impact area on which they choose to innovate and explore. 

Undergraduates welcome. 

Considers the multiple trade-offs at various abstraction levels and scales when designing complex, multi-component systems. Covers topics from foundational principles to advanced applications, emphasizing the role of compositional thinking in engineering. Introduces category theory as a mathematical framework for abstraction and composition, enabling a unified and modular approach to modeling, analyzing, and designing interconnected systems. Showcases successful applications in areas such as dynamical systems and automated system design optimization, with a focus on autonomous robotics and mobility. Offers students the opportunity to work on their own application through a dedicated project in the second half of the term. 

Students taking graduate version complete additional assignments.

UG: 4.378 | G: 4.379

Probes the ethics and aesthetics of historic preservation through an artistic lens. Introduces a range of themes related to politics of heritage, memory and commemoration, trauma, iconoclasm, and more. Explores the agency of monuments in relation to colonialism, nationalism, social justice, and democracy. Research is conducted in groups, through which students analyze contested heritage sites through critical artistic and spatial practices addressing traumatic, troubling, or toxic memory. Lectures, screenings, readings, and discussions inform the development of individual projects. At the end of the semester, students create projects that may involve artistic tools, collective learning experiences, creative processes, and transdisciplinary knowledge exchanges that demonstrate a new way of capturing, sustaining, and developing future heritage. 

Additional work required of students taking the graduate version.

Individual listings for each section of 4.154 will be posted once closer to the start of the Fall 2025 term.

Mandatory lottery process.

Individual listings for each section of 4.154 will be posted once closer to the start of the Fall 2025 term.

Mandatory lottery process.