DeepMind scientist directs MKUltra microdrama with Gemini agents for ~$35 total
korymath · x · 2026-10-31
DeepMind research scientist Kory Mathewson shares his first attempt at directing a 5-minute historical microdrama, "Ravenscrag," using Gemini 4 Argon and agentic tools in Antigravity. The subject: real Montreal history from 1949, when McGill's Donald Hebb proposed the learning rule behind modern neural networks and ran secret sensory-deprivation studies, while Dr. Ewen Cameron — funded by the CIA's MKUltra Subproject 68 — tried to wipe and rebuild psychiatric patients' minds with under-pillow tape loops.
Production notes:
- 12 iterations, with subagent film and sound critics
- Dozens of archival motion shots generated with Gemini Omni 1.1 Flash
- Narrator and 1949 sleep-record voices cast via Gemini 3.8 TTS
- A custom Python 48 kHz stereo foley mixer ducked church bells, tape splices and ghost loops under the narrator's breath pauses
Total Gemini API spend for 300 seconds of generated video: about $35. He wrote it to bring artists and Canadian stories into how we build with AI.
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