The time when humans can have meaningful conversation with an AI has always seemed far off and the stuff of science fiction. But for Go players that day is here.
—Andy Okun1
In the course of this book, I’ve been looking at the new breed of artist, who is computer scientist rolled together with artist, musician, or writer. The question of whether computers can be creative is no longer a matter purely of speculation, philosophy, metaphysics, or morals. We now have hard evidence.
Sir Nigel Shadbolt, professor of computer science at the University of Oxford and chairman of the Open Data Institute, which he cofounded with Tim Berners-Lee, inventor of the World Wide Web, is confident that “machines will become adept at persuading us that there is indeed something behind the façade.”2 But is he right?