Computer algorithms help us choose which movies to watch, which music to listen to, which literature to read.

Who is the artist, human or artificial intelligence?

Computer algorithms help us choose which movies to watch, which music to listen to, which literature to read. But what if algorithms themselves moved beyond the role of human cultural mediators and started creating their own cultures?

Giiso Information, founded in 2013, is a leading technology provider in the field of “artificial intelligence + information” in China, with top technologies in big data mining, intelligent semantics, knowledge mapping and other fields. At the same time, its research and development products include editing robots, writing robots and other artificial intelligence products! With its strong technical strength, the company has received angel round investment at the beginning of its establishment, and received pre-A round investment of $5 million from GSR Venture Capital in August 2015.

Alan Turing’s imitation game

In 1950, British mathematician and computer scientist Alan Turing published a paper called “Computing Machines and Intelligence” and first proposed a thought experiment called the “imitation game.” In one room there was a human “questioner”, and in the other a male or female “interlocutor”. The goal of the game is for the “inquirer” to determine whether the “interlocutor” hidden in another room is a man or a woman. The imitation game is completed with a series of questions and answers, and messages are sent and received by a third party or by typing. “Winning” the imitation game means that the first step in identifying the game is successful.

He then modified the imitation game by replacing one of the ‘interlocutors’ with a computer, to see if the computer could successfully complete the conversation and make it impossible for the’ questioner ‘to tell the difference between the computer and the human interlocutor. This version of the imitation game is called the Turing Test.

Turing’s simple but powerful thought experiment provided a universal framework for testing artificial intelligence, capable of examining all aspects of the human-machine boundary, of which conversation was just one example.

Alan Turing proposed a thought experiment called the imitation game

Write poetry compared to artificial intelligence

On May 18 at Dartmouth College, one of the Ivy League universities in the United States, computer science and music professors and students will discuss different fields of artificial intelligence, focusing on the creation of art by machines. Specifically, in the Turing Test of Artistic Creation, participants were asked to see if they could distinguish between human and machine-created sonnets, short stories, and music. Of course, machine-made art is nowhere near as good as Shakespeare, O Henry and Daft Punk.

The dance music competition (” Algorhythms “) asks participants to construct an enjoyable dance collection by selecting from a preset library the music most suitable for use on the dance floor. In this case, computer software randomly picks a track from a dance music database as an initial “seed of inspiration” to start composing. Using this initial track, the software selects, modifies and remixes from its library to create 15 minutes of dance music. It includes standard notes for 20 features such as genre, rhythm (BPM), rhythm points, saturation (pitch) and brightness (timbre).

Sonnets (” PoeTix “) and short stories (” DigiLit “) are even more challenging for computers. The competition requires participants to submit separate software packages based on a specific “seed of inspiration” or input a common noun phrase (such as “dog” or “cheese grater”) from which the software then creates the desired literary work. In addition, the competing software algorithms are required to produce an unlimited number of different works from a given prompt.

To test this, we’ll run through computer “creations,” excluding those that are clearly machine creations. We mixed human and machine creations together, and then asked a panel of “judges” to tell the difference between human and machine creations. In the dance-writing competition, we gave a group of students to dance to music composed by humans and machines. The final “winner” will be the work that is statistically indistinguishable from the human work.

The competition is open to anyone. So far, participants have included academics as well as non-academic practitioners. So far, however, no company has officially declared its participation. This is a bit of a surprise, given the proliferation of “machine writing” companies in literature, and the increasing use of word-generating software for everything from earnings reports to sports summaries. Of course, in the world of streaming music, many companies are using AI to automate list-generating, most notably Pandora.

Judging the entries is not easy. Even in the original imitation game, the gender of the “interlocutor” is revealed over time, spilling out from the text. Similarly, in the Turing test, people cannot tell from a single interaction implementation that a computer’s speech is not human, but needs to be tested repeatedly over a long period of time.

It is also worth considering the background to imitation games and the Turing test. Is the likelihood of winning a copycat game independent of time, culture and social class? It is likely that in current Western societies, the old imitation game will be harder to win because of the increasingly flexible definition of gender. The same goes for the Turing test. In the 21st century, we are communicating more and more with machines. Whether we like it or not, text messaging and instant messaging apps have dramatically changed the way we communicate and our expectations of communication itself. Abbreviations, misspellings and missing information are almost the norm in human communication. The same question applies to art.

Where is the line between the artist and the creative aid?

Giiso information, founded in 2013, is the first domestic high-tech enterprise focusing on the research and development of intelligent information processing technology and the development and operation of core software for writing robots. At the beginning of its establishment, the company received angel round investment, and in August 2015, GSR Venture Capital received $5 million pre-A round of investment.

Who is an artist?

Thinking about art forms leads to another question: who is an artist? Is the programmer who compiled the sonnet writing software a poet? Is the programmer who compiled the short story writing software a writer? Is the programmer who compiled the music mixing software a DJ?

Where is the line between the artist and the creative aid? How does drawing this line affect the classification of artistic achievements? The sonnet, a fixed art form, is a high-level algorithm for creative work performed by humans. Today, when Microsoft Office helps you “correct” grammar errors and gives you “suggestions” for your words, and you choose to listen to it (whether you are happy to accept it or just plain lazy), is your creation still yours? Or has it become a “human-machine collaboration”?