Meadows completed his Bachelor from Saint John"s College in Santa Fe, New Mexico. He also attended courses at The San Francisco Art Institute (painting and photography), University of Colorado (philosophy), (biology), and Bemis Art School (painting).
He is the inventor of several United States patents relating to artificial intelligence and avatars, and he lectures internationally on this work. In addition to developing software, Meadows is known for his hitchhiking adventures, specifically for visiting Baghdad in 2003, and his interviews with terrorists in Sri Lanka. He holds a United States Coast Guard captain"s license.
The ACTR platform is a scalable system that allows avatars to handle routine, repetitive tasks, engage in conversation, and listen to conversants.
Meadows initially invented the system as a means of developing interactive portraits. Meadows is a thought leader in the robotics field, frequently speaking about ethics, the future of social robots, and contextual conversation through technology.
In 1993 Meadows helped design WELL.com, the world’s third dot-com, and also helped develop the first open-protocol 3D multi-user environment in 1995. In 2001 he opened a gallery in Paris where he sold his paintings for two years before spending time in the Waag Society in Amsterdam, the Netherlands as a researcher
In 2005 he founded HeadCase Humanufacturing, and in 2012 he founded Geppetto Labs, both companies dedicated to artificial intelligence and avatars.
Since 1987, Meadows has been selling his artwork in galleries and museums throughout the United States and Europe. He has founded three companies and published five books, including two on robotics and the cultural implications of technology. Meadows is also a regular contributor to robotics publications.
Meadows has received the following awards: Ars Electronica, Golden Nica Linz, Austria: 1999Stanford Digital Art Center Stanford California: 1998NII Award Arts & Entertainment Los Angeles California: 1997Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum New York New York: 1997Electronic Arts, San Francisco Focus/Stoli Vodka San Francisco California: 1997Thomas J. Watson Fellowship New York New York: 1993Art Institute Of Chicago Chicago Illinois: 1986.
