How artificial intelligence can aid and replace higher order human creativity

Ed Newton-Rex, who composes for choirs, says JS Bach demonstrated how the greatest creative artists draw on a wide range of qualities. "It wasn't just his knowledge of music, although that was a big part of it," he says. "It was also his fervent religious belief and very high sense of academic rigour." Until machines can encompass these, they are not likely to compose anything rivalling the Goldberg Variations. Nevertheless, as the founder of AI music composer Jukedeck, Newton-Rex thinks computers are capable of creativity.