On the relevance of understanding for creativity

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contribution

Abstract / Description of output

Artificial Intelligence (AI) applications help humans accomplish many everyday tasks and we are increasingly in contact with its always improving technologies. However, research in AI has been hindered by biases and misconceptions that concern its possibilities and by the uncertainty and lack of clarity in respect to what does it mean for a machine to ‘learn’or to ‘understand’. The aim of this paper is to discuss human and artificial understanding and to assess how state-of-the-art research fares in respect to the development of artificial systems capable of understanding. To do that, I first consider four notions that can help us in having a richer vision of what understanding amounts to: knowledge, grasp, problem-solving, and context sensitivity. In the central section of the paper, I identify two kinds of understanding that are necessary for creativity, a competence that current research in AI strives to reproduce in artificial systems. I then, discuss the impressive, but not completely satisfactory, achievements of Natural Language Processing, a branch of AI that is moving towards gaining a higher level of understanding. I close the paper by arguing how the current program of neurosymbolic AI is showing promising results in the progress toward achieving the desired level of understanding and creativity in machines. This program takes inspiration from the dual-model of the human mind proposed by Daniel Kahneman in his bestselling work Thinking Fast and Slow and it parallels the mechanisms that are necessary to develop not only a context-sensitive understanding, but also creative capabilities.
Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationAISB2021: Philosophy after AI Symposium
PublisherThe Society for the Study of Artificial Intelligence and the Simulation of Behaviour
Pages95-101
Number of pages7
ISBN (Electronic)9781713829423
Publication statusPublished - 7 Apr 2021

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