Could a computer ever rival Rembrandt or Beethoven？

Image copyrightChristie'sImage caption

图片copyrightChristie的图片标题

This portrait was created by computer, so is it really art and is it any good？

这幅肖像画是由电脑创作的，所以它真的很艺术，是不是很好？

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Last year a portrait of Edmond Belamy sold for $432,000 (£337,000).

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A bit steep, you might think, for a picture of someone you've never heard of. And you won't have heard of the artist either, as the picture was created by an algorithm drawing on a data set of 15,000 portraits painted between the 14th and 20th Centuries.

你可能会认为有点陡峭听说。而且你也不会听说过这位艺术家，因为这张照片是由一个绘制在14世纪和20世纪之间绘制的15,000幅肖像数据集的算法创建的。

And to be honest, it's a bit rubbish.

说实话，这有点垃圾。

The sale, which astonished auction house Christie's, raised many important questions. Can a computer, devoid of human emotion, ever be truly creative？ Is this portrait really art？ Does any of that matter if people are prepared to pay for it？

出售，惊艳拍卖行佳士得，提出了许多重要问题。没有人类情感的电脑能否真正具有创造性？这幅肖像画真的很艺术吗？如果人们愿意为此付出代价，那有什么用呢？

And as artificial intelligence evolves and eventually perhaps reaches or surpasses human level intelligence, what will this mean for human artists and the creative industries in general？

智力发展并最终可能达到或超过人类智能，这对人类艺术家和整个创意产业意味着什么？

Algorithms have already created artworks, poems, and pieces of music, but are they merely mimicking rather than creating？ Cognitive neuroscientist Romy Lorenz says a lot depends on how we define creativity.

算法已经创造了艺术作品，诗歌和作品音乐，但他们只是模仿而不是创造？认知神经科学家Romy Lorenz说很多取决于我们如何定义创造力。

Image copyrightReutersImage caption Chinese Go player Ke Jie was eventually defeated by DeepMind's AlphaGo AI program

图片版权路透图片标题中国围棋玩家柯杰最终被击败DeepMind的AlphaGo AI计划

If creativity means finding completely new ways to solve problems, then AI has already achieved that, she argues, citing Google's DeepMind subsidiary.

如果创造力意味着找到解决问题的全新方法，那么AI已经实现了这一点，她引用了Google的DeepMind子公司。

In 2017, one of DeepMind's AI programmes beat the world's number one player of Go, an ancient and highly complex Chinese board game, after apparently mastering creative new moves and innovative strategies within days.

2017年，DeepMind的人工智能程序之一击败了世界排名第一的Go玩家，这是一个古老且极具竞争力的玩家中国棋盘游戏，显然是在几天之内掌握了创造性的新动作和创新策略。

“Google would say that was creativity - new ways of finding solutions that it was not taught,” she says.

“谷歌会说这是创造力 - 寻找未被教授的解决方案的新方法”她说。

But is art more than just creative problem-solving？

但艺术不仅仅是创造性地解决问题吗？

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Games, particularly those which take place within virtual worlds, have been the perfect setting for AI to solve problems creatively.

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But asking an algorithm to create without any human input at all actually yields quite boring results, argues New York-based professor of computer science, Julian Togelius.

但是要求算法在没有任何人为输入的情况下创建总部位于纽约的计算机科学教授Julian Togelius认为，实际上会产生相当无聊的结果。

He cites Kate Compton's “10,000 bowls of oatmeal” problem, which suggests that while algorithms can now create infinite worlds, these can be tedious for humans to play in.

他引用了凯特康普顿的“10,000碗燕麦片”问题，这表明算法现在可以创造无限的世界，这些对于人类来说可能是乏味的。

An example, he suggests, was the hotly-anticipated release of space exploration game No Man's Sky, which offered 18 quintillion algorithmically-generated planets to explore.

他建议，一个例子是太空探索游戏No Man's Sky备受期待的发布，提供了18夸intillion算法生成的行星探索。

Image copyrightHello GamesImage caption No Man's Sky uses “procedural generation” to create new worlds automatically

图片copyrightHello GamesImage标题No Man's Sky使用“程序生成”自动创建新世界

“In No Man's Sky there are more places you could visit in a lifetime, with different flora and fauna. But that game has had mixed reviews - it's a technical masterpiece but it's not super interesting to play,” he says.

“在无人区的天空中，您可以在一生中访问更多的地方，拥有不同的动植物群。但是那场比赛的评论不尽相同 - 这是一个技术杰作，但它并不是非常有趣，”他说。

The question is, can your algorithm generate a world that has meaning to it, and that is particular to the player in terms of place or skill？

问题是，你的算法可以产生一个拥有的世界吗？这对于玩家而言，就地点或技能而言是特别的？

“These algorithms are amazing - they can do more and more. But there will always be things us humans want to put in. It's the power of the sensibility and intentionality of the human brain - that's what is hard [to recreate].”

“这些算法太棒了 - 他们可以做得越来越多。但总会有事情发生。”我们人类想要投入。它是人类大脑敏感性和意向性的力量 - 这是[重新创造]的难点。

Dr Lorenz points out that true artistic creativity differs from creative problem solving in that it requires a shift in perspective that machines do not appear to have the capacity for.

Lorenz博士指出真正的艺术创造力与创造性解决问题的不同之处在于它需要改变视角，即机器似乎没有能力。

Image copyrightRomy LorenzImage caption Romy Lorenz says AI has no “internal world” from which to create true art

图像copyrightRomy LornzImage标题Romy Lorenz说人工智能没有“内部世界”来创造真正的艺术

Artistic creativity is about turning an introspective thought into a medium, whether it's a sculpture or a piece of music. It's about taking an abstract form and making it concrete.

艺术创造力是将内省思想转化为媒介，无论是雕塑还是艺术一段音乐。它是关于采取一种抽象形式并使其具体化。

“But AI has no internal world and it has no need to create its desires or fears.”

“但人工智能没有内部世界，也没有必要创造欲望或恐惧。”

So rather than letting AI take complete control, results seem to be far more fruitful when human artists work hand-in-hand with machines.

因此，当人类艺术家与机器携手合作时，结果似乎更有成效，而不是让AI完全控制。

Musician and University of Sussex lecturer Dr Alice Eldridge suggests that we should treat AI as “just another tool that we have designed, like the wheel, or the combustion engine”.

Image copyrightDr Alice EldridgeImage caption Dr Alice Eldridge (l) and Dr Chris Kiefer (r) play their self-resonating feedback cellos

图片copyrightDr Alice Eldridge图像标题Alice Eldridge博士（l）和Chris Kiefer博士（r）发挥他们的自我反馈反馈大提琴

She has helped create a cello that uses a combination of acoustics, electrification and an adaptive algorithm that makes the instrument self-resonate; or essentially, play itself.

她帮助创建了一个使用声学组合的大提琴，电气化和自适应算法这使仪器自谐振;或者基本上，发挥自己。

“With a classical cello you have to bring the instrument alive with a bow; a feedback cello is already singing, your job as a performer is to shape the sound - it's more like a dance than 'controlling' an instrument in the traditional way,” she says.

“使用古典大提琴，你必须带着蝴蝶结带来乐器;反馈大提琴已经在唱歌，你作为表演者的工作就是塑造声音 - 它更像是一种舞蹈而不是传统方式”控制“乐器，”她说。

“This creates a different way of thinking about, and designing our relationships with, musical instruments, and technology in general.”

“这创造了一种不同的思考方式，并设计了我们的关系一般来说，乐器和技术。”

Mick Grierson, at the UAL Creative Computing Institute in London, believes advances in AI will “lead to better art, new types of artists and new mediums”.

伦敦UAL创意计算研究所的Mick Grierson认为人工智能的进步将“带来更好的艺术，新的类型艺术家和新媒体”。

In 2016, Nordic band Sigur Rós used his software to create a constantly evolving version of one of their singles, which the band played on a 24-hour road trip around Iceland.

2016年，北欧乐队SigurRós使用他的软件创作了他们单曲中不断演变的版本，乐队24小时播放冰岛周围的公路旅行。

Image copyrightGetty ImagesImage caption The band Massive Attack have been experimenting with AI to create unique pieces of art

图片copyrightGetty Images图片标题Massive Attack乐队一直在试验AI创作独特的艺术作品

Individual musical elements of the song were fed through the software to make a song that, like a live performance, is subtly different with every repetition, and could respond to external prompts.

歌曲的个别音乐元素w ERE通过软件制作一首歌，就像现场表演一样，每次重复都会略有不同，并且可以响应外部提示。

Innovative composer and producer Brian Eno, who has worked with Roxy Music, David Bowie and Coldplay amongst others, is also a big fan of using algorithms to create music that constantly changes.

创新作曲家和制片人Brian Eno，曾与Roxy Music，David Bowie和Coldplay等人合作过，也是使用算法创作不断变化的音乐的忠实粉丝。

Prof Grierson has also worked with Massive Attack on an AI reworking of their Mezzanine album, to mark its 20th anniversary. The album will be fed into a form of AI that teaches itself - a neural network - and visitors to an upcoming Barbican exhibition will be able to affect the resulting sound by their movements.

Grierson教授也参与过Massive Attack人工智能重新制作他们的Mezzanine专辑，以庆祝其成立20周年。这张专辑将被用于一种自学AI的形式 - 一个神经网络 - 即将到来的巴比肯展览的参观者将能够通过他们的动作影响所产生的声音。

• Massive Attack album stored in a painting using DNA

  使用DNA存储在绘画中的大量攻击专辑

While AI could be seen as yet another threat to artists' livelihoods, he believes machines will never come close to competing.

虽然可以看到AI作为对艺术家生计的另一个威胁，他认为机器永远不会接近竞争。

AI could be used to reduce human creativity by people who want to make money - but it's people [not technology] who are responsible for doing that.

人工智能可以用来减少想要赚钱的人的创造力 - 但是

“The technology is never going to be good enough to generate better culture than people who use it to create their own.”

“技术永远不会比使用它来创造自己的技术更好地产生更好的文化。”

Follow Technology of Business editor Matthew Wall on Twitter and Facebooko

在Twitter和Facebooko上关注商业编辑Matthew Wall