Illinois Genetic Algorithms Laboratory

Matt Syrett’s article about using interactive GAs for web placement design reminds me how cool I think interactive GAs are. Ever since Dawkins famous Blind Watchmaker code, and Caldwell and Johnston’s Faceprints work at ICGA 91, the idea of having user-driven subjective functions in place of predetermined objective functions has opened the door to evolving art, music, poetry, and more. Of course, a lot of water has passed over the iGA dam since the early days, and for those interested in a fairly recent update on the state of interactive evolutionary computation, I recommend Hideyuki Takagi’s article.

Over a number of years, I’ve followed research in iGAs and some time ago, I started to collect information about market research and product development with the idea of founding a company to do just that using interactive GA technology. My dreams of a great startup were dashed one semester when during my genetic algorithms course, some students researching their class project uncovered a company that was already vigorously pursuing interactive GAs in marketing applications. That company, Affinova, has married iGAs and practical market research and product development notions to create a unique line of products and services. Subsequently I met company executive Rob Frasca in another context, and got the chance to tell him how Affinova was the company that broke my entrepreneurial heart. For those interested in a nice case study of marrying GAs and business read the Affinova white paper here.