Machine-learning algorithms aren't likely to put painters or singer-songwriters out of work anytime soon, to judge from their body of work to date. But Google Brain is developing tools that pair artists with deep-learning tools to develop novel artwork together, said Douglas Eck, senior staff scientist at the search giant's artificial-intelligence research division, during the MIT Technology Review's EmTech Digital conference on Tuesday. He hopes the platform, called Magenta, will allow people to produce completely new kinds of music and art, in much the way that keyboards, drum machines, and cameras did. Eck said that Magenta could serve a role analogous to that of Les Paul, who helped develop the modern electric guitar. But Eck said they want to keep artists in the loop to push the boundaries of the new tool in interesting ways, like a Jimi Hendrix who flips it upside down, bends the strings, and distorts the sound.

We've been hearing a lot about artificial intelligence and machine learning lately. From the big screen to Netflix, AI is a popular theme in Hollywood. Its most exciting developments, however, are in the real world, where tremendous strides in creating human-like cognitive capabilities are tackling real challenges. The goal is neither self-awareness nor autonomy. Rather, the forefront of cognitive computing is advanced systems that learn at scale, reason with purpose and interact with us naturally.