How to take AI far beyond gaming

Venture capital investments in artificial intelligence (AI), one of the biggest technological trends these days, are booming. The year 2016 saw almost ten times more funds invested in the space than 2012 did. Virtual and augmented reality (AR/VR), sometimes associated with the creative side of AI, also became a hot topic: More than $1.8 billion was invested in AR/VR, compared with just $86 million in 2012.

Applying AI to solve tasks normally considered creative has historical precedent. For example, procedural generation has been used to draw textures, produce 3D models, and automatically generate large amounts of content in video games since the 1980s. Moreover, gaming has contributed significantly to the whole AI landscape. Revenues generated by game developers allowed chip makers like Nvidia to improve hardware, and research on classic Atari games became one of the cornerstones of DeepMind’s breakthrough in reinforcement learning. However, a question arises — is gaming the only industry where AI and creativity merge?