When Alan Turing asked if a machine can be intelligent one aspect of this question focused on “could machines be creative”?
Ada Lovelace seemed convinced that originality was not a feat a computer was capable of:
it can do whatever we know how to order it to perform, it has no pretensions whatever to originate anything
Before we outrightly dismiss the idea of creative machines do we even understand what creativity is?
Join me on a journey examining these questions while also meeting a new generation of artists born through code. Looking into their hearts and brains examining different algorithms/techniques and there effectiveness at exhibiting creativity.
Decide for yourself, can machines be creative?
My Strangeloop talk: Creative Machines – http://www.infoq.com/presentations/ai-machine-creativity
Slides:
Full source code: https://github.com/josephwilk/musical-creativity
Continuing the Journey
In order to continue my research into creativity and music I’ve started the project Repl Electric. A space for humans and machines to learn and create music together.
Further Reading
- The Creative Mind: Myths and Mechanisms
http://www.amazon.com/The-Creative-Mind-Myths-Mechanisms/dp/0415314534 - Explaining Creativity: The Science of Human Innovation
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0199737576 - Artificial Intelligence and Literary Creativity: Inside the Mind of Brutus, A Storytelling Machine
http://www.amazon.com/Artificial-Intelligence-Literary-Creativity-Storytelling/dp/0805819878) - Computer Models of Musical Creativity
http://www.amazon.com/Computer-Models-Musical-Creativity-David/dp/0262033380 - Virtual Music: Computer Synthesis of Musical Style
http://www.amazon.com/Virtual-Music-Computer-Synthesis-Musical/dp/0262532611/