What we are doing
Four strands, all pointed at the same question: what these systems actually do to the people who use them.
Public conversation
Our work moves beyond the lab through public programs, demonstrations, workshops, conversations, and live experimentation — including a weekly hour on community radio.
Plain-English resources
A glossary, a map of who supplies whom across the industry, and the show's full archive with transcripts. Free, no sign-up, kept current.
Testing in the wild
Public usability testing inside a working performance venue, where prototypes are experienced by real audiences, in real conditions.
Immersive and creative tech
Design, prototyping and testing of AI applications, immersive media, XR, haptics, spatial audio and interactive experiences.
The radio show
CIUT 89.5 FM · TorontoBlinded By Science: The AI Chronicles
Guests from research, journalism and industry, asked what AI actually changes — each episode followed by a plain-English round-up of the week's news. Every episode here carries its audio, its poster and a searchable transcript whose timestamps jump the player.
Recent episodes
Resources
Free · no sign-upMade for the show, useful on their own — and growing.
The layers of AI
Six layers stacked on each other, from 1950s rule-writing to today's agents — what each one is, and which one people usually mean.
See the stack → 6 💡AI explainer
What happened, and why it matters — the stories worth understanding, explained plainly, each with a link to the source.
Read the explainers → 📖AI in plain English
The terms that come up on the show — tokens, training, hallucination, RAG, scaling laws — each explained in a sentence, and searchable.
Open the glossary → 43 🕸️Who owns what
An interactive map of who supplies data, models, compute, investment and distribution to whom, across the companies shaping AI.
Open the matrix → 13 🎬Clips & references
The videos played on air and the sources cited, gathered from the episode notes and updated as new episodes go out.
See what was shown → 🎧Episodes and transcripts
The full archive: audio from our own server, show posters, and transcripts you can search, with timestamps that jump straight to the moment.
Browse the archive → 30Services
Rates vary by project scopeThe Inventors Nest provides applied AI, immersive technology, and research services for organizations developing new tools, experiences, and systems. From early concepts and working prototypes to public usability testing at The Redwood Theatre, we help turn emerging technology into practical, real-world outcomes.
Research & innovation partnerships
For those building AI applications, immersive media, XR, haptics, spatial audio or interactive systems: prototype development space and production resources, public usability testing with live audiences, structured feedback and iteration support, and access to a research team with an HCI, sensory computing and audio engineering background.
See services →Studio & facility access
Flexible studios — Redwood Theatre, Dance Studio, Art Gallery Studio, VR/Tech Studio, Podcast Studio — available by project, day-rate or ongoing arrangement. Suited to performance, exhibition, filming and technology demos alike.
See the spaces →Public usability testing
A structured way to test a prototype, device or system with real audiences in a real venue — not a sterile lab. Participant recruitment support, live testing environments, and structured feedback capture and reporting.
How a session works →The lab
The Redwood Building, TorontoTesting in the wild. Most usability testing happens in a sterile lab, with a handful of participants and a moderator behind glass. We do it differently.
The Inventors Nest runs public usability testing inside a working performance venue — The Redwood Theatre and its adjoining studios — where prototypes are experienced by real audiences, in real conditions, alongside live performance, exhibition, and public programming. This gives us feedback that conventional lab testing can't: how people behave around a system when they're not being watched through one-way glass, how a device holds up in a room full of noise and movement, how an experience actually lands with the public it's built for.
Our research team draws on backgrounds in human-computer interaction, sensory computing, and audio engineering, applying academic-grade methodology to real-world testing conditions.
Studios & spaces
A 10,000-square-foot facility in Toronto's east end: three flexible studios, development spaces and production resources.
Bring your project to the lab
Workshops, development days, usability testing with real audiences, or a conversation about where AI actually fits in what you do.