Using Machine Learning to Support Human Creativity

In 2017, machine learning seems to suddenly be everywhere: playing Go, driving cars, serving us targeted advertising. What do advances in machine learning mean for the future of human creativity? What will the future hold for humanity, beside sitting at home all day listening to algorithmically generated music after robots take our jobs? In this talk, I will challenge you to consider how we can instead use machine learning to better support fundamentally human creative activities. For instance, machine learning can aid human designers engaged in rapid prototyping and refinement of new interactions with sound and media. Machine learning can support greater embodied engagement in the design of those interactions, and it can enable more people to participate in the creation and customisation of new technologies. Furthermore, machine learning is leading to new types of human creative practices with computationally-infused mediums, in which people act not only as designers and implementors, but also as explorers, curators, and co-creators.