Publications

Full list. Summaries and context for each paper live on the Research page.

Journal articles


Utz, V., & DiPaola, S. (2020). Using an AI creativity system to explore how aesthetic experiences are processed along the brain's perceptual neural pathways. Cognitive Systems Research, 59, 63–72. Paper

Stein, T., Utz, V., & van Opstal, F. (2020). Unconscious semantic priming from pictures under backward masking and continuous flash suppression. Consciousness and Cognition, 78, 102864. Paper

Conference papers


Utz, V., & DiPaola, S. (2023). Climate implications of diffusion-based generative visual AI systems and their mass adoption. Proceedings of the 14th International Conference on Computational Creativity, 264–272. Paper

Utz, V., & DiPaola, S. (2021). Exploring the application of AI-generated artworks for the study of aesthetic processing. Proceedings of the IEEE Fourth International Conference on Multimedia Information Processing and Retrieval (MIPR 2021), 393–398. Paper

Utz, V., & DiPaola, S. (2020). Aesthetic judgments, movement perception and the neural architecture of the visual system. Proceedings of the Tenth Annual Meeting of the BICA Society, 538–546. Paper

Workshop papers


Utz, V. (2026). Environmental Slow AI: Design principles for generative systems. International Conference on Machine Learning (ICML) 2026, Culture × AI Workshop: Evaluating AI as a Cultural Technology. Seoul, South Korea. Paper

Utz, V. (2026). Generative AI has a slag problem. International Joint Conference on Artificial Intelligence (IJCAI), 1st Workshop on Sustainability and Resource Efficiency of Artificial Intelligence (SuRE). Paper

Yalcin, O. N., Utz, V., & DiPaola, S. (2024). Empathy through aesthetics: Using AI stylization for visual anonymization of interview videos. Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI) 2024, EmpathiCH Workshop. Paper

Utz, V., & DiPaola, S. (2023). Digital overconsumption and waste: A closer look at the impacts of generative AI. Conference on Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition (CVPR) 2023, Ethical Considerations in Creative Applications of Computer Vision (EC3V) Workshop. Paper

Extended abstracts


Utz, V. (2025). Green user interface design for generative AI systems: Ensuring data generation and energy consumption cognizance. ACM Celebration of Cascadia Women in Computing. Vancouver, Canada. Abstract

Preprints


Utz, V. (2025). Responsible data stewardship: Generative AI and the digital waste problem. arXiv:2505.21720. Preprint

Talks and presentations


10 Jul 2026

Environmental Slow AI: Design Principles for Generative Systems

ICML 2026, Culture × AI Workshop. Seoul, South Korea. Poster

Poster
24 Oct 2025

Green User Interface Design for Generative AI Systems

ACM Celebration of Cascadia Women in Computing. Vancouver, Canada. Poster

Poster
26 Nov 2024

Research in Human-Centered Generative AI

SFU VINCI, Shaping the Future with AI: Innovations in Visual and Interactive Computing. Vancouver, Canada. Poster

Poster
22 Jun 2023

Diffusion-based Visual Generative Systems and their Climate Impact

International Conference on Computational Creativity (ICCC) 2023. Waterloo, Canada.

Talk
18 Jun 2023

Digital Overconsumption and Waste: A Closer Look at Generative AI

CVPR 2023, EC3V Workshop. Vancouver, Canada. Poster

Poster
10 Sep 2021

Exploring the Application of AI-Art for the Study of Aesthetic Processing

IEEE MIPR 2021, AIArt21 Workshop. Tokyo, Japan.

Talk
1 Sep 2021

Computational Creativity Systems and their Application in Empirical Aesthetics

International Association of Empirical Aesthetics (IAEA) 2021 Congress. London, United Kingdom. Poster

Poster
17 Aug 2019

Aesthetic Judgments, Movement Perception and the Neural Architecture of the Visual System

Biologically Inspired Cognitive Architectures (BICA) 2019 Conference. Seattle, United States.

Talk

Acknowledged contributions


Work I contributed to without authorship.

van Maanen, L., van der Mijn, R., van Beurden, M. H. P. H., Roijendik, L. M. M., Kingma, B. R. M., Miletic, S., & van Rijn, H. (2019). Core body temperature speeds up temporal processing and choice behavior under deadlines. Scientific Reports, 9, 10053. Paper

Shakeri, H., Nixon, M., & DiPaola, S. (2018). Saliency-based artistic abstraction with deep learning and regression trees. Electronic Imaging. Paper