Imagine an AI with an imagination

One explanation of human imagination -- and of creativity -- is that it's the process of creating something new by combining existing elements in a novel way. It could be a daydream built on "what ifs," such as familiar rhythms and motifs turned into a new song, or seemingly unrelated bits of knowledge brought together for the first time as the building blocks of a breakthrough insight. Using our imaginations comes naturally to us. We do it all the time in ways big and small. For artificial intelligence, however, recombining elements of different things is the opposite of what comes "naturally" to it.