Creative Machines

CHAPTER 1AARON the Machine Painter

The Only Voice of Reason

The only voice of reason,

Unheard, unseen.

I am the creative breath,

Brushing through the wind.

It wasn’t OpenAI or Google Brain that first discovered the marvelous terrain of creative machines. Even the most triumphant industry players joined the parade only long after the pioneers had already blazed the trail. By the time that Microsoft, Google, and IBM arrived on the scene, the quiet explorers had long since proved that the land of machine creativity was fertile.

The true pioneers of machine creativity worked humbly, far from the spotlight. Driven by nothing but passion and the pursuit of knowledge, these curious minds ventured into uncharted territories. Like all true explorers, they pressed forward without knowing if their efforts would ever bear fruit.

These early adventurers weren’t overconfident warriors, guns blazing, arrogantly trampling over creative traditions. Instead, many were artists – respected figures in their fields – risking their reputations to carve out this new domain.

I first encountered one of these passionate pioneers back in 2015. My story begins on a warm San Diego beach. The sun glistened across the ocean, framed by palm trees and the purple flowers that define the paradise of this splendid coast. I’d been reluctantly attending the workshop on Information Theory and Applications all week, and it was the same routine of machine learning techniques and mathematical proofs.

After over ...