SUM09282 – What Artificial Intelligence can Teach Us About Creativity

The field of artificial intelligence (AI) has received a lot of attention lately. This is due, in great part, to impressive high-profile success stories, such as AlphaZero, an AI solution that can beat every expert (human or computer) in three classic board games of strategy: Chess, Go, and Shogi (Japanese chess). One of the most impressive aspects of AlphaZero is its ability to make unconventional moves that are significantly distinct from (and more effective than) the moves a highly skilled human expert would choose in the same situation in the game. Today’s AI systems can write sonnets that resemble Shakespeare, create new cooking recipes, prepare entire news stories, or produce works of art based on a few keystrokes and mouse clicks, and much more. We will address questions such as: What does it mean to say that a computer/robot exhibits creative behavior? How much can AI teach us about human creativity? And, will the combination of computers and humans lead to better creative solutions? If so, how soon and in which areas?