About the Expo
What is this?
The Artificial Life Online Expo is a digital version of a physical exhibition first shown at the ALIFE 2025 conference in Kyoto, Japan. It's designed as a guided tour through nine different "zones", each exploring a key concept in ALife, from the basic question of what "life" even means, through to emergence, evolution, complexity; to the various forms ALife takes, and the questions it raises about the future. Throughout, there is a mix of explanatory text, videos, and interactive elements so you can bring the ideas to "life"(!).
Why did you make this?
The materials you see here were developed as part of the public exhibition at the ALIFE 2025 Expo in Kyoto, Japan, as a way to introduce the field of ALife to public attendees and non-ALifers. The original exhibition only ran for the few days of the conference, and those who attended only represented a small subset of the people that this expo could be valuable for! This online version exists so anyone curious about ALife can wander through it at their own pace, whenever they like, from anywhere. Plus, it gives us a chance to keep improving it long after the conference ended.
Who made this?
The expo is curated by Imy Khan (Lead Curator & Exhibition Designer), and Martha Emerson (co-curator). The in-person expo was supplemented by some excellent contributors from our community, and we continue to benefit from contributions from a number of different people. You'll find the full list of contributors on the homepage.
Is this an official resource from the International Society of Artificial Life (ISAL)?
Not officially, no. This expo was created to showcase at the ALIFE 2025 conference (the main artificial life conference, associated and endorsed by ISAL), but the expo itself is not ISAL-affiliated. Think of it as a labour of love from people who love artificial life!
How is this different from just reading about ALife on Wikipedia?
Wikipedia can be a good starting reference, but this expo aims to serve as a sort-of "guided tour" through all of the main concepts, rather than a big wall of text. Many people don't know what they don't know, and so we hope that this site provides the foundational knowledge for people to go off and do further reading.
Visiting
Do I need any background in [X] to follow along?
We have carefully created and curated materials that allows curious minds from all backgrounds and disciplines to be able to engage with them. You do not need to be a student in a specific domain, or even have any experience with any of these ideas. We assume no prior knowledge. However, if you think that we can improve the accessibility of the materials, we would really love to hear from you. Please feel free to submit your thoughts to our feedback form.
Do I have to go through the zones in order?
Not at all. The zones are numbered because that's the order visitors experienced them at the physical exhibition, and later zones do build gently on ideas from earlier ones — but you're free to jump straight to whatever looks most interesting from the homepage.
Does this work on my phone?
Mostly, yes. The site itself is responsive and therefore mobile-friendly. That being said, the embedded simulations are built by outside researchers and creators and weren't necessarily designed with small screens in mind, so they may be easier to use on a laptop or desktop.
Is this appropriate for classrooms or kids? / Can I use this website for my class?
Broadly, yes. The tone and content are aimed at a general public audience with no assumed background. That said, we haven't specifically vetted every external simulation for a classroom setting, so if you're planning to use this with younger students, we'd recommend previewing a zone first. If you would like to reuse or adapt any of the materials on this site (excluding the external simulations), then please check our licensing agreement at the bottom of the page.
The Simulations
Some simulations just link out to another website instead of loading here. Why?
A handful of the older or more complex simulations rely on technology that modern browsers can no longer run inside an embedded frame (old Java applets, for example). In those cases, we link directly to wherever you can actually try them instead of pretending they work here. We try to prioritise simulations that can be easily embedded into the site, but we think that some of the simulations are so illuminating for a particular zone, that it is worth externally linking to them.
Does the embedded Google Form (or other interactives) collect my personal data?
Where we embed a Google Form, it's collecting whatever you choose to submit through it (like your response to a survey question), governed by Google's own privacy policy. We don't separately track or store that data ourselves. Third-party simulations linked or embedded from other sites are run by their original creators, so their own privacy practices apply, not ours.
Contributing
Can I use some of this material?
Our site is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0. This license requires that reusers give credit to the creator. It allows reusers to distribute, remix, adapt, and build upon the material in any medium or format, for noncommercial purposes only. If others modify or adapt the material, they must license the modified material under identical terms. Reach out via the Contact page and we'll figure out what's possible. It depends on which part of the material you mean, since some content (like our own placard text) is easier to share than others (like third-party simulations, which have their own separate licenses).
You forgot a zone about [X]! / The zone about [Y] could benefit from [Z].
Ah, yes, we know that nine zones can't possibly cover everything, that there is potentially some overlap between them, and that we could still improve the contents of the existing zones. The beauty of having a digital experience like this is that we can iterate and improve on it, with community support. If there's a topic, simulation, or idea you think deserves a spot, we'd love to hear about it. Submit it to our feedback form.
Can I translate this into another language?
Absolutely, and we'd love the help. The site currently supports English and Japanese, and we're actively looking for volunteer translators to add more. Reach out via the Contact page if you're interested.
I found a bug, a typo, or something's not working — what do I do?
Please tell us. Submit it to our feedback form, or check the Roadmap first to see if it's already a known issue.
Is there a way to cite this in a paper or presentation?
Sure, the citation is as follows (presented here in Harvard style, adapt as necessary): Khan, I. and Emerson, M. (2026). Artificial Life Online Expo. [online] Available at: https://alife-expo.org.