CITO seminar - Artificial Intelligence and Creativity
Electric Fan (2018) Tom White uses “perception engines,” algorithms that distill the data collected from thousands of photographs of common objects, to synthesize abstract shapes. He then tests and refines the results until they are recognizable by the sy
Abstract
Progress in Artificial Intelligence is brisk and seems nearly unstoppable. Machines can drive cars in a variety of environments, can beat humans at chess, go, and Jeapardy!, and are involved in making medical and legal decisions. One futurist even predicts that by 2029, we will have produced an AI that can pass for an average, educated human being in every way. Are human beings to be replaced by machines altogether, then? The answer to this question depends at least as much on our understanding of what it is to be human as it does on our technological progress. I will argue that some of the most fundamental things that human beings do involve creativity, and that creativity of the most fundamental sort is an essentially human phenomenon. To see this, however, we will have to explore the degree to which genuine creativity is not just doing new things, but doing them in such a way that others can recognize their significance and worth. To make genuinely creative contributions to the world – in mathematics, physics, literature, philosophy, business, or any other significant domain – is to set the standard for what counts as good in the relevant sphere. This is much more than solving a problem – even a very difficult or thorny one. It is being involved in the world as a human being is.
Please register for this seminar at eventbrite.com
Image caption from TechnologyReview.com
Image from Tom White - AI Artist at me.drib.net
