Eye of the beholder: the impossible task of making creative A.I.

When Hello Games, an independent gaming studio in sleepy Surrey announced to the world that they were building a space exploration video game which would feature more than 18 quintillion unique planets to explore, the gaming press exploded with hype. But when the game was eventually released, it was met with a tsunami of disappointment and criticism. The Grid, an A.I. startup that promised to deliver a fully automated website builder (and a respected rival of my own business, Firedrop), fell into a similar trap as its heady balloon of voracious hype eventually burst as the end product failed to match consumer expectations. Neither product was bad, however (nor are they dead, both have done quite well commercially as far as we know). They were both victims of excessive hype which, as we all know, is a predictable prelude to mass disappointment.