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Lenia - Biology of Artificial Life

arXiv 1812.05433 ↗First posted 13 Dec 2018nlin.CG cs.NE nlin.PScited by 41

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Abstract (arXiv)

We report a new system of artificial life called Lenia (from Latin lenis "smooth"), a two-dimensional cellular automaton with continuous space-time-state and generalized local rule. Computer simulations show that Lenia supports a great diversity of complex autonomous patterns or "lifeforms" bearing resemblance to real-world microscopic organisms. More than 400 species in 18 families have been identified, many discovered via interactive evolutionary computation. They differ from other cellular automata patterns in being geometric, metameric, fuzzy, resilient, adaptive, and rule-generic. We present basic observations of the system regarding the properties of space-time and basic settings. We provide a broad survey of the lifeforms, categorize them into a hierarchical taxonomy, and map their distribution in the parameter hyperspace. We describe their morphological structures and behavioral dynamics, propose possible mechanisms of their self-propulsion, self-organization and plasticity. Finally, we discuss how the study of Lenia would be related to biology, artificial life, and artificial intelligence.

Key facts. Cited by 41 papers in the map (data through 7 Oct 2026). First posted on arXiv 13 Dec 2018.

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Cited by year (2026 to 7 Oct)

Citing papers per year: 2021: 3; 2022: 3; 2023: 6; 2024: 6; 2025: 12; 2026: 11.

41 papers.

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  1. 2021Learning Graph Cellular Automatacited by 33
  2. 2024Automating the Search for Artificial Life with Foundation Modelscited by 20
  3. 2022Flow-Lenia: Towards open-ended evolution in cellular automata through mass conservation and parameter localizationcited by 11
  4. 2024DreamGarden: A Designer Assistant for Growing Games from a Single Promptcited by 10
  5. 2021Texture Generation with Neural Cellular Automatacited by 9
  6. 2023E(n)-equivariant Graph Neural Cellular Automatacited by 9
  7. 2023Biomaker CA: a Biome Maker project using Cellular Automatacited by 9
  8. 2025Neural Cellular Automata for ARC-AGIcited by 9
  9. 2024From Text to Life: On the Reciprocal Relationship between Artificial Life and Large Language Modelscited by 8
  10. 2024CAX: Cellular Automata Accelerated in JAXcited by 8
  11. 2025EngramNCA: a Neural Cellular Automaton Model of Memory Transfercited by 7
  12. 2023Growing Steerable Neural Cellular Automatacited by 6
29 more
  1. 2024JaxLife: An Open-Ended Agentic Simulatorcited by 6
  2. 2023Neural Cellular Automata Can Respond to Signalscited by 4
  3. 2021Carle's Game: An Open-Ended Challenge in Exploratory Machine Creativitycited by 3
  4. 2022Empowered Neural Cellular Automatacited by 2
  5. 2025Exploring Flow-Lenia Universes with a Curiosity-driven AI Scientist: Discovering Diverse Ecosystem Dynamicscited by 2
  6. 2025Flow-Lenia: Emergent evolutionary dynamics in mass conservative continuous cellular automatacited by 2
  7. 2025AutomataGPT: Forecasting and Ruleset Inference for Two-Dimensional Cellular Automatacited by 2
  8. 2023Capturing Emerging Complexity in Leniacited by 1
  9. 2023Selection for short-term empowerment accelerates the evolution of homeostatic neural cellular automatacited by 1
  10. 2025Expedition & Expansion: Leveraging Semantic Representations for Goal-Directed Exploration in Continuous Cellular Automatacited by 1
  11. 2025Equilibrium flow: From Snapshots to Dynamicscited by 1
  12. 2025Guiding Evolution of Artificial Life Using Vision-Language Modelscited by 1
  13. 2025The Emergence of Complex Behavior in Large-Scale Ecological Environmentscited by 1
  14. 2026Visualizing the Structure of Lenia Parameter Spacecited by 1
  15. 2026Conversable Complexity: Agentic LLM Collectives as Interpretable Substratescited by 1
  16. 2022Selecting Continuous Life-Like Cellular Automata for Halting Unpredictability: Evolving for Abiogenesiscited by 0
  17. 2024A Sensitivity Analysis of Cellular Automata and Heterogeneous Topology Networks: Partially-Local Cellular Automata and Homogeneous Homogeneous Random Boolean Networkscited by 0
  18. 2025Rethinking Self-Replication: Detecting Distributed Selfhood in the Outlier Cellular Automatoncited by 0
  19. 2025Complex System Exploration with Interactive Human Guidancecited by 0
  20. 2025The Algorithmic Regulatorcited by 0
  21. 2026LOGOS-CA: A Cellular Automaton Using Natural Language as State and Rulecited by 0
  22. 2026Evolving Many Worlds: Towards Open-Ended Discovery in Petri Dish NCA via Population-Based Trainingcited by 0
  23. 2026Von Neumann Networkscited by 0
  24. 2026Cultivating Machine Intelligence: The OMEGA Shift from Top-Down Optimization to Autopoietic Cognitive Ecologiescited by 0
  25. 2026Neuroevolution Arena: Nested Ecological Evaluation of Update-and-Inheritance Regimes across Neural Architecturescited by 0
  26. 2026Semantic Lenia: Emergence of Homeostatic Solitons within the Semantic Space of Large Language Modelscited by 0
  27. 2026The Artificial Experimentalist: Discovery and Control of Self-Organizing Phenomena with Autotelic Reinforcement Learningcited by 0
  28. 2026Self-Replicating Neural Cellular Automata: Quantifying Emergent Phenotypic and Genotypic Diversity in an OpenEnded Substratecited by 0
  29. 2026Where Does Randomness Matter in Neural Cellular Automata?cited by 0