Concept Creation Technology

The Concept Creation Technology project (ConCreTe) aims to study conceptual creativity in humans and machines. Hierarchical memory representations and techniques for conceptual blending are implemented in context of a cognitive architecture of creativity based on information theoretic measures. ConCreTe serves a long-term vision of computer systems that can behave in ways comparable with human creativity, autonomously and interactively, with better interaction between human and machine, better autonomous systems in general, and possibly creativity of new kinds, not yet exhibited by humans. We anticipate on-line creative learning environments, to teach or support creative pursuits and promote creativity in humans. We anticipate immersive gaming and edutainment systems that respond creatively to users’ actions. We anticipate reasoning systems that can propose new technology not intended by their designers. This becomes possible with computationally-creative reasoning when necessary domain knowledge is made available. We use Semantic Web technology to avoid the bottleneck of domain modeling, so creative reasoning can be ready in advance. We focus on mechanisms for generating examples in the creative domain from a learned model, and mechanisms for evaluating generated examples according to novelty and value. We develop AI methodology for creative systems, to exploit the potential of creative computational resources for society. We develop computer systems to simulate conceptualisation by study of deliberately guided methods. We develop computer systems that can conceptualise new meaning in terms of, but not restricted by, its existing knowledge. We develop and implement a cognitive architecture that simulates human creativity, study it as a creative entity in its own right, and behaviourally and neuroscientifically as a model of human creativity. We develop new evaluation methods for computational creativity founded in behavioural study and user responses of software distributed by our exploitation partner.