Despite all valid warnings, one of the oldest concerns with AI being widely discussed in movies and books is how far can the machines go in replacing humans. And we, the humans, always argued that machines can replace us in heavy body tasks and calculus but never in on the last frontier: creativity and cognitive functions.
I always supported the idea that creativity is not more than the ability to remember, analyze, and recognize patterns limited to our own perception, which can be interpreted as good or bad "taste".
And this pattern learning and recognition not being exclusive to humans, they are the perfect domain of computers, machine learning, and AI.
Well, if you doubt this, let me show 2 incredible examples:
AIVA - Artificial Intelligence Virtual Artist
Short explanation: AIVA creators made an AI that learned more than 30000 great compositions from the greatest masters (Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, etc.) and they made it learn what are the music patterns of this same masters that make a great classic music composition. The same process has been done to rock music, jazz, and other genres.
See the TED talk and some other examples:
TED Talk - How AI could compose a personalized soundtrack to your life
AIVA - 1hour music collection
AIVA - Different genre (rock)
ANNIE - Comes the Fiery Night
After creating EMI and Emily Howell, 2 AI that also compose music, David Cope, an American author, composer, scientist, and former professor of music created Annie, an AI that learns how to learn and besides music also writes poetry.
Comes the Fiery Night is a Haiku book written partially by Annie. The challenge in the book is to understand what was written by humans or by the machine (note: most of the Haiku experts fail miserably on the challenge).
To offer a preview, here are three Haiku poems. One is human and the other two from Annie (Cope wouldn't tell who wrote what):
Cannot the fervor Over the river's ending Be postponed to now?
Water snakes writhe, Water splashes in their wake, A frog heads for home
The fire crackles loud In the morning air as I Wander on the path
Which haiku are human writing and which are from a group of bits?
Reality check
The idea that humans will always have a unique ability beyond the reach of non-conscious algorithms is just wishful thinking.
Remember the fate of the horses during the industrial Revolution. They could smell, love, recognize faces, jump over fences and do a thousand of other things far better than a Model T Ford or a million-dollar Lamborghini and a Tesla!
So, the discussion should not be if computers can replace humans in the near future. They can! What we should discuss is what should be our future relation with computers and how should we regulate bad use of it.
The risks are not only on AI but in innovation in general. No doubts that Uber-like innovations will always threat Taxi like established businesses.
But it’s also true that we, humans, have shown from history a high capacity to adapt to changes. And these changes and consequent adaptation always resulted in evolution. Is it good for everybody? Was Sapiens evolution good for the Neandertal? Of course not. But still, it's evolution.
And we should be afraid. Being afraid is, in fact, good! It was the going out of the cave and being fearful about the wilderness that made us become problem solvers and evolve. So, let's just keep being fearful. Let’s keep doing it!