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Binghamton University Awards $100,000 Grants to Study AIs Impact on Arts and Humanities
Binghamton University has earmarked $100,000 in seed funding for four faculty projects that will probe how artificial intelligence and machine learning shape artistic and humanities practices. The grants, part of the Provost Awards for Research Grants, will fund 18‑month research programs and are made possible by a state‑matched private donation to the university’s foundation.
The Provost Awards for Research Grants are designed to support high‑impact questions across disciplines. In this round, the focus was on the ethical, philosophical, and creative implications of AI in the arts and humanities. The money comes from a special endowed fund created by the State of New York, which matches a private contribution to the Binghamton University Foundation.
The first funded project, “Algorithm, Composition & Improvisation: A New Generative Collaboration Via Sensory Percussion and Machine Learning,” is led by music lecturer James Budinich and assistant professor Gregory Evans. With $12,530, the team will build a real‑time generative AI system that reacts to live percussion performances. They plan a fall workshop and live shows in Binghamton, New York City, and Ithaca, featuring violist Stephanie Griffin. Budinich noted that the performances will never be identical, and that this variability could change how musicians document and experience live music.
The second project, “AI as Cinematic System,” is a collaboration between assistant professors Magdalena Bermudez and Jason Bernagozzi of the Cinema Department. The $37,500 grant will fund the creation of a responsive machine‑learning system that blends historical and contemporary film and audio techniques with other AI tools. The researchers aim to explore how filmmakers can maintain artistic agency while incorporating generative technologies.
The third project, “Against Detection: Investigating Human and Machine Vision Through Print‑Based Practice,” brings together faculty from the Art and Design, and Digital and Data Studies departments. With $32,000, the team will use printmaking to produce three classes of images: those that remain unclassifiable by computer vision, those that humans and machines interpret differently, and traditional artworks that are detectable but not fully understood by algorithms. The goal is to identify aspects of visual creation that resist machine interpretation.
The fourth project, “How Do Generative AIs Read Literature?: Designing a RAG Benchmark for Social Knowledge,” is a joint effort of assistant professors Junting Huang, Sujoy Sikdar, and William Hayes. The $17,500 grant will support the curation of at least 30 literary works and the testing of Retrieval‑Augmented Generation (RAG) configurations against more than 150 annotated question‑answer pairs. The study will assess how generative AI systems interpret fiction and where they fall short.
Binghamton’s Provost, who announced the awards, emphasized the importance of exploring AI’s role in creative fields. “This is huge for me. It’s a great resource that the provost has created for Binghamton’s faculty,” said Budinich. The grants reflect the university’s broader commitment to interdisciplinary research and to understanding how emerging technologies intersect with human culture.
The funded projects will run through the fall of 2027, with public performances, workshops, and research publications expected to emerge during that period. The initiative highlights the growing interest in AI’s ethical and practical implications for artists, scholars, and educators.
The Provost Awards for Research Grants are designed to support high‑impact questions across disciplines. In this round, the focus was on the ethical, philosophical, and creative implications of AI in the arts and humanities. The money comes from a special endowed fund created by the State of New York, which matches a private contribution to the Binghamton University Foundation.
The first funded project, “Algorithm, Composition & Improvisation: A New Generative Collaboration Via Sensory Percussion and Machine Learning,” is led by music lecturer James Budinich and assistant professor Gregory Evans. With $12,530, the team will build a real‑time generative AI system that reacts to live percussion performances. They plan a fall workshop and live shows in Binghamton, New York City, and Ithaca, featuring violist Stephanie Griffin. Budinich noted that the performances will never be identical, and that this variability could change how musicians document and experience live music.
The second project, “AI as Cinematic System,” is a collaboration between assistant professors Magdalena Bermudez and Jason Bernagozzi of the Cinema Department. The $37,500 grant will fund the creation of a responsive machine‑learning system that blends historical and contemporary film and audio techniques with other AI tools. The researchers aim to explore how filmmakers can maintain artistic agency while incorporating generative technologies.
The third project, “Against Detection: Investigating Human and Machine Vision Through Print‑Based Practice,” brings together faculty from the Art and Design, and Digital and Data Studies departments. With $32,000, the team will use printmaking to produce three classes of images: those that remain unclassifiable by computer vision, those that humans and machines interpret differently, and traditional artworks that are detectable but not fully understood by algorithms. The goal is to identify aspects of visual creation that resist machine interpretation.
The fourth project, “How Do Generative AIs Read Literature?: Designing a RAG Benchmark for Social Knowledge,” is a joint effort of assistant professors Junting Huang, Sujoy Sikdar, and William Hayes. The $17,500 grant will support the curation of at least 30 literary works and the testing of Retrieval‑Augmented Generation (RAG) configurations against more than 150 annotated question‑answer pairs. The study will assess how generative AI systems interpret fiction and where they fall short.
Binghamton’s Provost, who announced the awards, emphasized the importance of exploring AI’s role in creative fields. “This is huge for me. It’s a great resource that the provost has created for Binghamton’s faculty,” said Budinich. The grants reflect the university’s broader commitment to interdisciplinary research and to understanding how emerging technologies intersect with human culture.
The funded projects will run through the fall of 2027, with public performances, workshops, and research publications expected to emerge during that period. The initiative highlights the growing interest in AI’s ethical and practical implications for artists, scholars, and educators.
