A native of the island of Taïwan, Mariana Lin is a poet and writer, whose work has appeared in publications such as Prairie Schooner, Gulf Coast, RHINO, New York Magazine, and The Paris Review. She has also worked as a creative director at Apple, first in the global marketing department shooting campaigns around the world, then as the principal writer behind Siri, scripting its conversations with people in over 33 languages and countries. Mariana has also developed AI characters for Hanson Robotics’ Sophia, Bose, BMW and Renault, from bald humanoid robots to sleepy Greek goddesses and talking rhinos. Her work has given her the opportunity to experience the surreal and poetic relationships that develop between people and machines, and incarnating AI for years gave her more insight into what it means to be human. She has given talks on AI, language and creativity at TED Global Summit, UNESCO, AI for Good at the United Nations, and Brighton Literary Festival, and has read poetry at expositions such as Vessel for Soul at Galerie Libre Est l’Art and Full Circle at EST Galerie in Paris. She has also taught on AI personality design at Stanford University’s Hasso Plattner Institute of Design, and at University of Zurich.
She holds a BA in English Literature from Swarthmore College, a JD from Berkeley Law School, and an MFA in poetry from Pacific University. Mariana is the loving and proud mother to a son with 18th chromosome disorder, who uses an iPad to speak with the language LAMP. Mariana speaks English, French, some Mandarin and studied Ancient Greek. She is interested in creativity, spirituality and human potential. She currently works in Paris on an artist’s visa.