SOFT MODE / EMBODIED AI / 2026
Originated at MIT Media Lab hosted 2026 AI Hackathon 'HARD MODE'
Invited by Anthropic to present at Code with Claude Conference
FILM/SOFT MODE
01
ORIGIN
SOFT MODE began at the MIT Hardmode Hackathon as an experiment in treating physical form as input. Instead of prompting intelligence with words, we asked whether a person could sculpt intention directly into clay — and whether a system could learn to read that form.
02
WHY FORM
CLAY IS A VERY
INTELLIGENT MATERIAL.
It holds memory of touch, pressure, force, hesitation and intention. It is information in a physical state.
WE are STILL PROGRAMming
Intelligence with WORDS.
Language compresses human intent, but it is not the only way we express it.
WHAT IF FORM
BECAME CODE?
What if physical form could be read, interpreted, and transformed by intelligence?
03
SYSTEM
Softmode investigates clay as an input modality, a functional material system, and an embodied output medium for human–AI interaction.
We are developing a material system for shaping what intelligence reads, interprets and becomes.
05
TRAINING
What if physical form could be read, interpreted, and transformed by intelligence?
05 / FRAMEWORK
semantic LENSE categories
DOING
(FUNCTION)
What the form is trying to do.
BEING
(DYNAMICS)
How the form holds and moves.
MAKING
(GESTURE)
How the form was made.
FEELING
(AFFECT)
What the form expresses.
07 / RESEARCH STREAM
ONGOING EXPLORATIONS.
SHAPE GRAMMAR
Building a vocabulary of form.
FORM DATASETS
Teaching machines the language of form.
EMBODIED DATA
Capturing gesture and intention.
APPLIED PROTOTYPES
From research to real-world systems.
CULTURAL SIGNALS
Tracking the future of interaction.
08 / FROM THE RESEARCH
THE FUTURE WON’T BE TYPED.
IT WILL BE SHAPED.
SOFT MODE is an ongoing project exploring how physical form becomes a new interface for intelligence.