Beyond the Creative Species: Making Machines That Make Art and Music

A multidisciplinary introduction to the field of computational creativity, analyzing the impact of advanced generative technologies on art and music.

As algorithms get smarter, what role will computers play in the creation of music, art, and other cultural artifacts? Will they be able to create such things from the ground up, and will such creations be meaningful? In Beyond the Creative Species, Oliver Bown offers a multidisciplinary examination of computational creativity, analyzing the impact of advanced generative technologies on art and music. Drawing on a wide range of disciplines, including artificial intelligence and machine learning, design, social theory, the psychology of creativity, and creative practice research, Bown argues that to understand computational creativity, we must not only consider what computationally creative algorithms actually do, but also examine creative artistic activity itself.

Oliver Bown is Senior Lecturer and Researcher in the Interactive Media Lab at the University of New South Wales.