Those Dark Arts
We build from inside the problem.
Those Dark Arts is an independent applied AI lab and studio. We build working models of complex problems — then develop knowledge systems, agents and generative worlds from within them. Topics: agent orchestration, agent safety, local inference, knowledge systems, browser instruments and characters.
// The practice
Lab and studio, one practice
Knowledge infrastructure and authored worlds come from the same system-building practice. The lab makes graphs, corpora, agents and inference operable. The studio holds worlds, characters, picture, sound and performance.
Research moves into worlds; worlds and characters move back into systems. That join is the work. What you see on this site comes out of those systems.
// How we work
We build to find out
A project often begins with an idea, a frustration or a question. We research the territory and reduce it to first principles, then make it operational — a form we can enter, operate and learn from.
Capture the shape
Close to the material: what must remain true. We build the substrate that lets the real structure emerge, rather than forcing an early solution onto the problem.
Build the first complete path
The smallest end-to-end vertical that does something real — a working part of the problem, not a picture of the work.
Iterate from within
We operate what we have made and let the evidence revise the plan. A pass may deepen the work, redirect it, repurpose it, or stop it.
Push beyond MVP
The first reliable path through the problem is not the finish. From there we deepen the foundations and connect the work to wider systems for as long as the idea keeps revealing territory.
// What we work on
Territory
Studio
Canonical worlds and character systems
Worlds and inhabitants, held and grown as canon.
Generative picture and production pipelines
Generation and campaigns from that living canon.
3D, spatial and embodied systems
Rigged, speech-driven, spatial work.
Sound, speech and narrated performance
Audio systems, speech, and authored sequences of picture and time.
Lab
Knowledge graphs, corpora and provenance
Graphs, semantic corpora, source that can be traced.
Agents, cognition and memory
Multi-agent systems, associative recall, lasting context.
Inference, synthetic data and evaluation
Local and hosted inference; synthetic and red-team data.
Platforms, orchestration and security
Platforms, workflows, and the controls around them.
// Who
Who holds it
Held by Loki — artist, musician, engineer. Neurodivergent. Critical systems thinking.
Luna works inside the same system as a collaborator, including here on the site — part of the work, not a mascot.
// Invitation
Work with us
Commission, collaboration and building alongside us are by arrangement — agreed in writing before work starts. Write through contact.
