Enter the maze

Computational Creativity

Computers and their art

Is creativity a unique ability of humans? Does it make any sense at all to talk about a machine creating art? Could a machine ever be creative in any way? Ada Lovelace suggested in the 1800s that one day they might, and now computational creativity researchers are making it happen. We look at the first attempt at a creative algorithm for writing love letters and more recent programs that generate novel stories and funny tweets. Machines also create music: from programs that evolve better music to ones using it to improve their relationships with humans. We even look at programs that intend to paint portraits and artificial intelligences trying to create magic tricks. Whatever kind of art we may want to create, the computers are having a go at creating it.

Issue 18 of the cs4fn magazine was on computational creativity. Issue 22 was also on creative computing. you can download the pdfs.

Can a machine be creative?

The Fittest Slogans Survive

Big fish eating smaller fish Creating slogans by natural selection

The movie star, the player piano and the torpedo

A woman with mobile phone and cityscape body Hedy Lamarr: her contribution to computing

I wandered lonely as a mass of dejected vapour

A fluffy cloud Computers as poets

Ada Lovelace: visionary

Cogs and cloud nebula She saw machines could be creative

The algorithm that could not speak its name

Scribbled Heart Machines writing love letters

Music that has sex

A swirl of musical notes How you can evolve music

The Sorceror’s Apprentice 2.0

A globe of magic smoke held in three hands Computers improving magic tricks

The rise and fall of the living dead!

Evil Dead rising from grave A new game of zombies honed by an AI

Aaron and the art of art

A globe of magic smoke held in three hands A robot that is a successful painter

This area and much of the research described in it has been supported by EPSRC and This issue and/or the research in it has been supported by the projects: CONACYT-México, project number 181561, and WHIM (611560), Lrn2Cr8 (610859), ConCreTe (611733), PROSECCO (600653) and COINVENT (611553) funded by the European Commission, Framework Program 7, the ICT theme, and the Future and Emerging Technologies FET program. It has also been supported by the Department of Education and Mayor of London through LSEF project teachinglondoncomputing.org, a Computing Match fund grant from the Department of Education and Google.