About MotivatAI

An Independent Research & Development Initiative

MotivatAI is an independent research and development initiative at the intersection of psychology, control theory and artificial intelligence.

Our goal is to develop an explicit computational architecture for motivation, emotion and personality dynamics that can serve as a behavioral core engine for artificial agents.

The project combines long-standing psychological research with computational modeling, simulation and software implementation. Academic research provides the theoretical foundations; MotivatAI explores how these principles can be translated into a technically usable and economically deployable architecture.

The Team

Professor Dr. Markus Quirin is with the TUM School of Medicine & Health

Our Lab involves are variety of scholar from all around the world

Prof. Dr. Markus Quirin

Co-Founder & Scientific Lead

Markus Quirin is a psychologist and professor whose research focuses on motivation, emotion, personality dynamics, self-regulation and computational approaches to psychological functioning.

Within MotivatAI, he develops the psychological and control-theoretic architecture of the system, including the specification and integration of motivational states, regulatory mechanisms and their dynamic interactions.

His scientific work on personality dynamics, motivational systems and psychologically inspired control architectures forms an important foundation of the project.

m.quirin(at)tum.de

Alp Karaağaç

Co-Founder & Technical Lead

Alp Karaagac has a background in computer science, large language models and cognitive systems.

Within MotivatAI, he leads the computational implementation of the architecture and its translation into software, simulation environments and interfaces with contemporary AI systems.

His work focuses particularly on turning the formal psychological model into an executable, testable and extensible technical architecture.

alp.karaagac(at)tum.de

Research Contributors & Academic Context

MotivatAI’s research and prototyping have benefited from contributions by researchers and students with backgrounds in psychology, computer science, engineering and related disciplines.

Selected contributors have worked on specific computational modules, simulations and testing environments, including student projects conducted within academic study programs.

These contributions form part of a broader interdisciplinary development process. Individual contributors and academic affiliations do not imply institutional ownership or sponsorship of MotivatAI.

The scientific foundations of MotivatAI emerged from academic research on motivation, personality and self-regulation conducted over many years.

Some research and prototype components have also been explored together with students or researchers affiliated with universities. MotivatAI itself is developed as an independent R&D and prospective commercialization initiative.