Computer algorithms that make human-quality short fiction, poetry, and dance music is the objective of a new Turing test-style competition and prize in creative intelligence.
The competition will test whether human judges can distinguish between human and computer-generated creative works. It is organized by the Neukom Institute for Computational Science, which is directed by Dan Rockmore, an SFI External professor and a member of the Institute's Science Steering Committee.
Read the results in the Washington Post (May 23, 2016)
“The classic Turing test has always been held out as the benchmark of human intelligence -- that is, writing an algorithm that enables a computer to carry on a conversation that fools the human on the other side,” says Rockmore. “But even with a test like that, people always say a computer can't write a novel or a poem. In our competitions, we hope to inspire artificial intelligence researchers to take on that challenge and create another dimension of AI-- creative intelligence.”
SFI will be partnering with Dartmouth on the contest's "DigiLit" and "Poetix" entry categories, the "literary" Turing test competitions wherein participants do their best to design algorithms to produce short stories and sonnets, respectively. Such an algorithm "passes the Turing test" in its given domain if, according to a panel of judges, it is indistinguishable from a human-generated work.
In addition to a prize for any algorithm that passes the Turing test, prizes will be given to the best algorithms within each class.
The three competitions will run during the 2015-16 academic year. With the participation of SFI researchers and SFI-affiliated writers, SFI and Dartmouth will present the winning works in spring 2016 during a public event that will be accompanied by a panel discussion exploring the possibilities of machines for the generation of art.
Read more about the Neukom Institute Turing Tests in Creativity
Read the article in Fortune (June 29, 2015)
Read the article in Quartz (June 30, 2015)
Read the article on MSN.com (July 5, 2015)
Read the article on CBC.com (July 6, 2015)
Read the article in Seven Days (July 22, 2015)