[{"command":"openDialog","selector":"#drupal-modal","settings":null,"data":"\u003Cdiv id=\u0022republish_modal_form\u0022\u003E\u003Cform class=\u0022modal-form-example-modal-form ecl-form\u0022 data-drupal-selector=\u0022modal-form-example-modal-form\u0022 action=\u0022\/ro\/article\/modal\/6230\u0022 method=\u0022post\u0022 id=\u0022modal-form-example-modal-form\u0022 accept-charset=\u0022UTF-8\u0022\u003E\u003Cp\u003EHorizon articles can be republished for free under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) licence.\u003C\/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp\u003EYou must give appropriate credit. We ask you to do this by:\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n      1) Using the original journalist\u0027s byline\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n      2) Linking back to our original story\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n      3) Using the following text in the footer: This article was originally published in \u003Ca href=\u0027#\u0027\u003EHorizon, the EU Research and Innovation magazine\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp\u003ESee our full republication guidelines \u003Ca href=\u0027\/horizon-magazine\/republish-our-stories\u0027\u003Ehere\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp\u003EHTML for this article, including the attribution and page view counter, is below:\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cdiv class=\u0022js-form-item form-item js-form-type-textarea form-item-body-content js-form-item-body-content ecl-form-group ecl-form-group--text-area form-no-label ecl-u-mv-m\u0022\u003E\n        \n\u003Cdiv\u003E\n  \u003Ctextarea data-drupal-selector=\u0022edit-body-content\u0022 aria-describedby=\u0022edit-body-content--description\u0022 id=\u0022edit-body-content\u0022 name=\u0022body_content\u0022 rows=\u00225\u0022 cols=\u002260\u0022 class=\u0022form-textarea ecl-text-area\u0022\u003E\u003Ch2\u003ECreative computation and the What-If Machine\u003C\/h2\u003E\u003Cp\u003EAI research has become so advanced in the last five years that researchers can think seriously about using it to create new and unexpected ideas.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThey hope creative computers could be used to help inspire novelists suffering from writers\u2019 block, to give children ideas which they could write stories about, or even to individualise mass-produced items. However, they are having to stretch the technology to its limits to get there.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u2018We end up pushing the boundaries of artificial intelligence,\u2019 explained Professor Simon Colton, coordinator of the What-If Machine project at Goldsmiths College, University of London.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe machine, which is \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.whim-project.eu\/whatifmachine\/#\/welcome\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022 rel=\u0022noopener noreferrer\u0022\u003Eaccessible online\u003C\/a\u003E, takes information gleaned from the internet and uses complicated algorithms to turn them into \u2018What-Ifs\u2019 that combine concepts in unusual ways to create new ideas. For example: \u2018What if there was a cloud that had bars instead of water? So rather than being used for bringing a shade, it could be used for buying a beer.\u2019\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EIt filters its results by sending them to project partners at Complutense University of Madrid, Spain, who try to work out whether the What-Ifs have mileage by generating creative stories on the back of them.\u003Cblockquote class=\u0022text-center text-blue font-bold text-2xl w-full lg:w-1\/2 border-2 border-blue p-12 my-8 lg:m-12 lg:-ml-16 float-left\u0022\u003E\n  \u003Cspan class=\u0022text-5xl rotate-180\u0022\u003E\u201c\u003C\/span\u003E\n  \u003Cp class=\u0022font-serif italic\u0022\u003E\u2018If the computer doesn\u2019t know what the poem means, then the computer is not being creative.\u2019\u003C\/p\u003E\n  \u003Cfooter\u003E\n    \u003Ccite class=\u0022not-italic font-normal text-sm text-black\u0022\u003EDr Tony Veale, University College Dublin, Ireland\u003C\/cite\u003E\n  \u003C\/footer\u003E\n\u003C\/blockquote\u003E\n\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EOnce the What-Ifs have been scored in this way, they are then sent to a team at the Jo\u017eef Stefan Institute in Ljubljana, Slovenia, who use crowdsourcing and machine learning to predict if people will actually like them.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe goal is to hone the system so that it can produce popular ideas more frequently. While they\u2019ve only just started, the early signs are encouraging.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u2018We have got statistically significant results indicating that the storytelling approach may work at full scale,\u2019 said Prof. Colton.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe EU-funded project is planning large-scale testing by getting thousands of people to rate thousands of What-Ifs using crowdsourcing.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EIt\u2019s a similar technique to that used by AI Twitterbots which judge their success on whether or not they are retweeted, such as \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/twitter.com\/pentametron\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022 rel=\u0022noopener noreferrer\u0022\u003E@pentametron\u003C\/a\u003E, which pairs and retweets posts that are in iambic pentameter.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u2018Sometimes the results can be deeply surprising,\u2019 said Dr Tony Veale, coordinator of the EU-funded PROSECCO project, which is working to develop the field of computational creativity by linking up researchers and communities.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EHowever, these are examples of what he calls \u2018mere generation\u2019 rather than real creativity.\u0026nbsp;The AI system uses pre-programmed rules to create seemingly meaningful content which is just that, seemingly meaningful.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u2018You get a lot of computers that generate stuff that they themselves don\u2019t understand,\u2019 said Dr Veale, who is based at University College Dublin, Ireland. \u2018They generate poetry \u2026 but if the computer doesn\u2019t know what the poem means, then the computer is not being creative.\u2019\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EHis group\u2019s Twitterbot \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/twitter.com\/metaphormagnet\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022 rel=\u0022noopener noreferrer\u0022\u003E@metaphormagnet\u003C\/a\u003E, which is also part of the WHIM project, uses a store of knowledge to create tweets that it believes to be meaningful. For example, it tweeted in July: \u2018Remember when peace was encouraged by nonviolent peacemakers? Now, peace is a victory enjoyed only by conquering victors.\u2019\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp style=\u0022text-align: center;\u0022\u003E\u003Ca class=\u0022twitter-timeline\u0022 href=\u0022https:\/\/twitter.com\/MetaphorMagnet\u0022 data-widget-id=\u0022626014685012344833\u0022\u003ETweets by @MetaphorMagnet\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EBackground knowledge\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EPeople judge poetry and artwork by looking at the context in which it was produced and having some background knowledge about the artist.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u2018You can fill in a background about him or her as a starving, poor artist in a garret in Paris painting for his or her lunch,\u2019 said Prof. Colton. \u2018Whereas, with software, the natural reaction is to think of it as a very cold algorithmic random approach.\u2019\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EIt\u2019s something he has tried to address in his AI-based art machine called \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.thepaintingfool.com\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022 rel=\u0022noopener noreferrer\u0022\u003EThe Painting Fool\u003C\/a\u003E.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ciframe src=\u0022https:\/\/europa.eu\/webtools\/crs\/iframe\/?oriurl=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fembed%2F2CH1J9df6BU\u0022 width=\u0022560\u0022 height=\u0022315\u0022 frameborder=\u00220\u0022\u003E\u003C\/iframe\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cem\u003EThe Painting Fool explains the creative process it used after it has finished work. Video courtesy of Simon Colton, who is also the ERA Chair in Digital Games Technology at Falmouth University, UK, based on The Painting Fool\u2019s work\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EHis goal is to grow The Painting Fool into an artist in its own right.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u2018When I die, no-one will notice because The Painting Fool will just carry on producing interesting artworks,\u2019 he said.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ENow he is considering using similar techniques to augment the What-If Machine.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u2018Maybe we\u2019ll regroup and say, \u201cOk, it\u2019d be great to have a new creative personality in the world, so we\u2019ll build the What-If Machine up to be like The Painting Fool.\u201d,\u2019 he said.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EWork like this is laying the foundations of a field that will have a huge impact on our lives in years to come, whether it is in the form of a smartphone app which can help people to think creatively about how to use their time, or as a creativity module that can turn each mass-produced item into an individual, unique design.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u2018There is a tremendous fear at the moment about what AI is being used to do, or will be used to do,\u2019 Dr Veale said. \u2018Creativity is a wonderful counterbalance to that.\u2019\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cdiv class=\u0022moreinfoblock\u0022\u003E\n  \u003Ch3\u003ECreative ICT\u003C\/h3\u003E\n  \u003Cp\u003EThe WHIM project is one of four that received funding under a specific EU initiative entitled Creative ICT.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe funding, the result of the EU\u2019s Future and Emerging Technologies programme, which seeks to fund new sectors, means that Europe has a leading role in this exciting emerging field.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EFor more information: \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/cordis.europa.eu\/fp7\/ict\/fet-proactive\/creativity_en.html\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003Ehttp:\/\/cordis.europa.eu\/fp7\/ict\/fet-proactive\/creativity_en.html\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003C\/p\u003E\u003C\/textarea\u003E\n\u003C\/div\u003E\n\n            \u003Cdiv id=\u0022edit-body-content--description\u0022 class=\u0022ecl-help-block description\u0022\u003E\n      Please copy the above code and embed it onto your website to republish.\n    \u003C\/div\u003E\n  \u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cinput autocomplete=\u0022off\u0022 data-drupal-selector=\u0022form-k-6tpoaavzb0dodewfgo7wn38hiyg9v5yfvitmsb3ug\u0022 type=\u0022hidden\u0022 name=\u0022form_build_id\u0022 value=\u0022form-k-6TpoAAvZb0DodEWFgO7wN38hIyg9v5yFViTmSB3Ug\u0022 \/\u003E\n\u003Cinput data-drupal-selector=\u0022edit-modal-form-example-modal-form\u0022 type=\u0022hidden\u0022 name=\u0022form_id\u0022 value=\u0022modal_form_example_modal_form\u0022 \/\u003E\n\u003C\/form\u003E\n\u003C\/div\u003E","dialogOptions":{"width":"800","modal":true,"title":"Republish this content"}}]