Topic outline

  • The goal of the course is to introduce the participants to computational creativity, a subfield of artificial intelligence that is concerned with the philosophy, science and engineering of creativity in computational systems. The course covers the principles of the field, including what is computational creativity, how to drive and evaluate it, and why creative autonomy is essential. It  will moreover provide an overview of a wide range of application domains such as linguistic creativity, musical creativity, and human-computer co-creativity. Further topics will be custom-tailored to the interests of the participants.

    During the course participants will practise scientific writing and how to find novel research. Each participant will write an essay on one computational creativity related subject starting from the papers provided. The essay is worked upon iteratively during the course. Each participant will give a presentation on their topic based on their essay at the end of the course.

    After the course, the student will:

    • Be familiar with the key concepts in computational creativity
    • Understand what kind of questions computational creativity addresses
    • Be able to analyse and discuss creative artificial intelligence systems

    Contact Anna Kantosalo (anna.kantosalo(at)aalto.fi) on questions regarding the course. Other teaching staff: professor Tapio Takala & Christian Guckelsberger.

    Initial Plan for the Course

    The course assembles six times in period III and at most five times in period IV, depending on the number of student presentations. Topics for this years edition of the course:
    https://docs.google.com/document/d/1KXB9qHyXgajRv-_agkhttzOlgNDVX3GmDX-Ppo5aQco/edit?usp=sharing 

    Zoom link: https://aalto.zoom.us/j/64685279071 (recurring)

    Initial plan for period III:

    Fri 15.01.2021 at 12:15 - 14:00, Online         Lecture 1: Introduction to the course, topic assignment

    Fri 22.01.2021 at 12:15 - 14:00, Online         Lecture 2: Introduction to Computational Creativity

    Fri 29.01.2021 at 12:15 - 14:00, Online         Lecture 3: Generation in Computational Creativity

    Fri 05.02.2021 at 12:15 - 14:00, Online         Lecture 4: Evaluation in Computational Creativity

    Fri 12.02.2021 at 12:15 - 14:00, Online         Lecture 5: Creative Autonomy

    Fri 12.02.2021 at 23:59                                 Deadline: Essay outlines

    Fri 19.02.2021 at 12:15 - 14:00, Online         Lecture 6 (Zoom groups): Peer feedback session

    Fri 26.02.2021 at 23:59                                 Deadline: first full version of Essay


    Initial plan for period IV:

    The course continues to meet once a week for five weeks. During each lecture we have 2-3 student presentations, short peer feedback and discussion. Return the slides for your presentation one week before your turn for teacher feedback.

    Fri 05.03.2021 at 12:15 - 14:00, Online         Student presentations

    Fri 12.03.2021 at 12:15 - 14:00, Online         Student presentations

    Fri 19.03.2021 at 12:15 - 14:00, Online         Student presentations

    Fri 26.03.2021 at 12:15 - 14:00, Online         Student presentations

    Fri 02.04.2021 at 12:15 - 14:00, Online         Student presentations

    Fri 09.04.2021 at 23:59                                 Deadline: final version of Essay

    Passing the course:

    The course consists of writing an essay, giving a presentation and giving peer feedback. The maximum points for different assignments are:

    • Essay: 15 + 15 + 30 (versions outline, full draft and final version)

    • Presentation: 20

    • Peer feedback: 10 + 10 (peer review of outlines and peer review of presentation)

    Sum max 100 (Minimum 50 points total and 1 point per assignment required to pass)

    Important dates:

    • Deadline for essay outlines: 12.02. 

    • Deadline for first full drafts of essays: 26.02.

    • Deadline for final essays: 09.04.

    • Deadline for presentation slides: One week before your presentation.