Matthew Caren

Matthew Caren develops computational systems to understand, enable and augment human expression. With a focus on sound and natural language, his research straddles generative AI, cognitive science and digital signal processing.

Caren currently researches computational models of how people use their voices to communicate sound at the MIT Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Lab and interpretable real-time machine listening systems at the MIT Music Technology Lab. He is the inventor of novel instruments used by Grammy-winning musicians on international stages and has presented first-author publications at SIGGRAPH Asia and New Interfaces for Musical Expression.

Caren is a senior at MIT, where he studies computer science, mathematics and music. He chairs the Undergraduate Advisory Group at the MIT Schwarzman College of Computing, where he leads undergraduate committees on AI and interdisciplinary computing and was a founding member of the MIT Voxel Lab for music and arts technology. Previously, he spent several summers developing large language model systems and bioinformatics algorithms at Apple and a year researching expressive digital instruments at Stanford’s Center for Computer Research in Music and Acoustics.

Caren is originally from Palo Alto, California. He is also a jazz pianist, internationally recognized film composer and avid culinary adventurer.