Computational Creativity: Novel Technologies for Creative Decision Making. An introduction and literature review

Authors:

  • Tove Gustavi
  • Magnus Jändel

Publish date: 2013-05-07

Report number: FOI-R--3664--SE

Pages: 64

Written in: English

Keywords:

  • Decision Support
  • Autonomy
  • Artificial Intelligence
  • Computational
  • Creativity

Abstract

Creativity is often the key to success in decision making but stressed leaders find it difficult to come up with novel ideas. It is much easier to evaluate an idea once it is on the table. How do we develop new and relevant ideas in strategic and operational decision-making? Traditional solutions are based on inspiring human creativity with consultants, brainstorming and innovation processes but these approaches are not always adequate for fast-paced military decision making. Can artificial intelligence contribute creative ideas? This is what the emerging science of Computational Creativity is exploring. Computational creativity software supports operational decision processes by proposing novel and relevant ideas including possible courses of action, anomalies in the current situation analysis or aspects of the situation that should be considered by the staff. Strategic decision making is aided with new scenarios or technical solutions. This report is commissioned by the Swedish Defence Materiel Administration. We review computational creativity from the perspective of decision support and autonomous systems. The first chapter explains in layman's terms how it is possible for machines to support humans with creative ideas and how far the research has advanced. Examples on how computational creativity today is used for strategic scenario planning are provided and we discuss how operational decisions can be supported in the future. Chapters 2-4 review the scientific literature on computational creativity. We analyse the tools of computational creativity including conceptual analogies, information theory, logic and genetic programming. We also examine applications of computational creativity in decision making, story generation, art, technology, and innovation. In chapter five, we forecast the evolution of technologies and applications for decision support and autonomous systems.