About us

Adrien Toupet is a passionate entrepreneur at the intersection of artificial intelligence and visual effects. With over two decades in the VFX and digital industries, he has contributed to more than 30 films and led large-scale projects across three continents.

As a former Head of Effects at Wētā FX, Adrien managed a global team of over 100 technical directors and helped create groundbreaking visuals for iconic movies like the Avatar series, Games of Thrones, and Terminator. His deep expertise in SideFX Houdini, machine learning, and cloud computing positions him at the forefront of AI-driven content creation.

As a caring educator and leader with a people-first approach, Adrien has trained many professionals over the years to transition to new technologies. He takes great pleasure in empowering growth and equipping artists with the tools they need to adapt and thrive in an evolving industry. Having navigated large-scale change management firsthand, he is committed to making filmmaking more accessible and sustainable. The debate of man versus machine is over – it's time to harness the best of both worlds and push research toward a future where technology enhances and empowers sustainable creativity.

Beyond entertainment, Adrien has led nationwide digital transformation initiatives in the public sector. As a certified AWS Machine Learning Engineer and Solutions Architect, he bridges the gap between technology and storytelling, ensuring that innovation serves both creative and human needs.

Fluent in English and French, Adrien is a strong advocate for ethical AI, the open-source community, and for diversity, equity, and inclusion. Surrounded by a team of exceptional and diverse talents, he is on a mission to open the creative world to new artists while empowering industry veterans with a more sustainable future.

Dr. Tiffany J. Callahan is a Senior Machine Learning Researcher at SandboxAQ, pushing the boundaries of AI-driven discovery in the realms of computational biology, healthcare, and materials science.

With over a decade of experience in academia and industry, she specializes in developing multi-agent AI workflows, retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) systems, and knowledge graphs to solve complex real-world challenges. She earned a PhD in Computational Biology from the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, where she pioneered methods in graph representation learning and neural-symbolic reasoning. Her work laid the foundation for scalable disease modeling and biomedical knowledge integration, earning her the prestigious Outstanding Dissertation Award. She has since expanded her expertise into AI-driven chemistry, molecular simulations, and symbolic AI, designing intelligent systems that accelerate scientific discovery.

Dr. Callahan has contributed to cutting-edge machine learning infrastructure at IBM Research, where she developed multi-agent RAG architectures for material discovery. Her research has powered national initiatives like the National COVID Cohort Collaborative (N3C), the All of Us Research Program, and the Human BioMolecular Atlas Program (HuBMAP), providing scalable AI tools for biomedical data integration.

Passionate about open science and the Semantic Web, Dr. Callahan is a champion of FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, Reusable) data principles and has authored over 50 peer-reviewed publications. She actively shapes the future of AI as an advisor, reviewer, and editor for leading scientific journals and conferences. A relentless innovator, she holds multiple patent disclosures in AI-driven data anonymization, molecular structure modeling, and knowledge engineering. Whether building agentic workflows to enhance scientific reasoning or optimizing large-scale AI pipelines, Dr. Callahan thrives at the intersection of machine learning, knowledge representation, and real-world impact.

Hien Nguyen earned her Master of Computer Science, Data Science, and AI with Merit from Victoria University of Wellington (2024).

Her research focused on generating synthetic COVID-19 X-rays using DCGAN and WGAN-GP models to address class imbalances in medical datasets. She also developed explainable Facial Expression Recognition systems through genetic programming and symbolic regression.

Her expertise spans generative AI, transparent machine learning and all things data. Prior to academia, Hien held leadership roles in e-commerce, hospitality, and revenue management driving data-informed strategies. She thrives in multicultural teams and is passionate about bridging technical innovation with real-world impact.

Pete Reilly is a software engineer with 25 years of experience crafting innovative solutions for the VFX industry. He combines deep technical expertise with an artistic eye and a passion for how machine learning can revolutionize traditional workflows.

As Head of Research and Development at Glassworks, he collaborated with talented artists and directors on award-winning projects from commercials and film, to music videos for artists like Bjork. Whether building worlds from particles, clouds, smoke, or chocolate blocks, he consistently developed beautiful working solutions. His pioneering approaches to procedural generation and digital art direction were recognized with an invitation to lecture at London's Tate Modern. His focus, attention to detail and problem solving abilities were key in producing an eclectic variety of high-end products, from digital content to medical visualization software.

Pete later joined the then-emerging Important Looking Pirates. He created a bespoke CPU-based volumetric renderer 'Tempest'. This elegant and optimized solution was used in-house and on films like 'Kon-Tiki' and 'Everest',contributing to ILP's early success.

His involvement in many challenging roles, including as Senior Rendering Engineer working with the team at Isotropix on the innovative lighting product 'Clarisse' have given him a unique insight into production pipelines and the critical areas where AI can make a meaningful impact.

With expertise in C/C++, GPU programming, acceleration structures and a comprehensive understanding of 2D/3D workflows, Pete is now focused on applying machine learning to address today's VFX challenges. As the industry undergoes transformative change, he is committed to developing intelligent solutions that empower artists and enhance the collaborative creative process.

Jasmin Cheng is a service design leader committed to transforming how organizations evolve and innovate.

With over a decade of experience in digital transformation across local government, public health, finance, and the private sector, she applies practical techniques from service design, organizational strategy, and digital innovation. She is passionate about breaking down silos and guiding teams toward a more sustainable, forward-thinking future.

Taking an inclusive and relational approach, Jasmin uncovers deep customer insights, co-designs with communities, technologists, and frontline teams, and aligns decision-makers around a shared vision. Whether improving employee experiences, launching new services, or coaching teams in service design, she ensures that change is both impactful and human-centered.

Jasmin's career is grounded in hands-on experimentation and making. A graduate of Fab Academy, she has explored the social impact of digital fabrication and worked at Fab Lab Wgtn, helping students and professionals prototype and refine ideas using cutting-edge technology. Her passion for learning, testing, and iterating fuels her approach to problem-solving.

Now, she brings this expertise to the future of filmmaking. By researching industry challenges, analyzing data, and uncovering meaningful insights, Jasmin helps design smarter workflows and guides real-world innovation. Her mission is to empower storytelling to be more inclusive, ethical, and sustainable - ensuring that technology enhances creativity rather than replaces it.