ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE AND CREATIVE THINKING Michael Paul – CS210 –

Overview  explanation of generative or algorithmic art  some examples of such software  music  writing  drawing  advantages and disadvantages of this type of software and its ethical implications

A Familiar Example Nintendo Wii – Mii Creator

A Familiar Example So what’s the problem? Imagine the same application with something more significant

Definition Generative art Art that has been generated, composed, or constructed in an algorithmic manner through the use of systems defined by computer software algorithms, or similar mathematical or mechanical or randomized autonomous processes - From Wikipedia

Experiments in Musical Intelligence  algorithmic music composition tool written by David Cope  analyzes works by a certain composer and creates new compositions in the style of the sample works

Other Composition Tools  Metamath Music –generates music from mathematical proofs  CodeSounding – generates music from java source code  Randomusic – automatically generates music in a random fashion while following various rules that add harmony, structure, etc.  Lexikon-Sonate – another algorithmic music generator

Cybernetic Poet The Saxophone Player The saxophone player lives alone, blows lives alone, blows a swinging door splendid silence prophetic poses splendid silence prophetic poses of a prayer and the walls. A poem written by Ray Kurzweil's Cybernetic Poet after reading poems by Ray Kurzweil and Pat Sherman

Cybernetic Poet  written by Raymond Kurzweil  reads a selection of poems and creates a “language model”  uses model to write new poetry in the style of the originals  uses the following aspects of original poems: words, word structures, rhythm patterns, and overall poem structure

AARON  Can produce nearly infinitely many images in its own style, but it cannot learn new styles Software written by Harold Cohen to create virtual paintings

AARON  written by Harold Cohen  has been in continual development since 1973  initially created abstract drawings in black and white  more representational imagery was added in the 1980s, including plants, rocks, and people  color was added in the 1990s  available as a screensaver for Windows

AARON

Why This Is Good  advances the field of A.I.  helps us model the thought processes behind human creativity  generates artwork that might not otherwise be created  can be used to enhance human-created art (i.e. an artist can model a machine to generate something based on specific needs)

Things To Think About “The music our algorithms compose are just as much ours as the music created by the greatest of our personal human inspirations.” - David Cope “If what AARON is making is not art, what is it exactly, and in what ways, other than its origin, does it differ from the ‘real thing?’ If it is not thinking, what exactly is it doing?” - Harold Cohen

Some Problems  could diminish the need for human talent  lacks the value of man-made art  might be unfairly used as a crutch  plagiarism  the Cybernetic Poet tries to avoid using more than 3 words in a row from a source work, but it can still happen  someone could claim a computer-generated work to be their own  limitation: cannot modify their own behavior

Ethical Questions  To what extent is it fair to use another person’s work as the basis of a new creation?  Who should claim authorship of software-created art?  The user?  The creator of the software?  Where do you draw the line?

Sources   generated_music generated_music   