Alexander Mordvintsev wins the Swiss AI Award 2025

Alexander Mordvintsev, the creator of DeepDream, has received the Swiss AI Award at the Culture & Society “AI Awards Night”, held at Kraftwerk Zürich as part of Swiss {AI} Weeks 2025.

Alexander Mordvintsev, Just before DeepDream: fractalization #3, 2015/04

Swiss {AI} Weeks is a nationwide initiative uniting researchers, developers, entrepreneurs, and citizens to shape ethical, responsible, and collaborative AI. With over 150 partners, 240 events, and 33 participating cities, the movement showcases how innovation “Made in Switzerland” can generate real societal and cultural impact. Running from September 1 to October 5, 2025, the program features hackathons, expert talks, public workshops, and community meetups across Basel, Bern, Geneva, Lausanne, Zurich, and beyond — transforming Switzerland into a living laboratory for the future of AI. 

As part of Swiss {AI} Weeks, the AI Awards Night took place on September 28, hosted by Singularity Is Here in collaboration with Swiss {AI} Weeks and powered by QSTAR Research. The event celebrates outstanding achievements at the intersection of technology, ethics, and culture — with the support of Impact Hub Zürich, Kraftwerk Zürich, and other partners.

Left: Alexander Mordvintsev presenting at the AI Awards Night / Right: Alexander Mordvintsev with Kate Vass during the AI Awards Night

This year marked the 10th anniversary of DeepDream, the groundbreaking algorithm that transformed how we see and think about artificial intelligence. In recognition of this milestone, its creator, Alexander Mordvintsev, received a well-deserved award during the event. The award honors not only his pioneering contribution to AI research but also the lasting cultural and artistic impact of DeepDream, which continues to inspire both scientists and artists a decade later. To mark the occasion, Alexander presented “Deep Dream Decade: Celebrating 10 Years of Neural Hallucinations” — reflecting on how a late-night experiment in 2015 evolved into a global cultural phenomenon and how DeepDream’s legacy continues to shape the dialogue between art and technology today.

Alexander Mordvintsev is a Zurich-based researcher and artist best known for inventing the DeepDream algorithm — a milestone in AI image generation that revealed how neural networks “see” the world. Developed during his time at Google, DeepDream inverted the image-recognition process, allowing networks to amplify and visualize their own internal patterns. The resulting complex, hallucinatory images became an instant global sensation. Beyond its visual impact, DeepDream reshaped how both artists and scientists approach AI creativity.

Alexander’s visionary contribution is now celebrated with the Swiss AI Award 2025 — a well-deserved recognition of his enduring influence on both technology and culture.

Alexander Mordvintsev, Cats, 2015/05