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Dr Simon Colton's work on a computer program that aspires to be an artist is discussed in the January edition of New Scientist.

Does it really take a human to produce a masterpiece? Meet the computerised painters and composers ready to take the artistic Turing test

IN A loft overlooking the rooftops of one of the buzzing artistic neighbourhoods of Paris, France, Simon Colton is carefully unfurling one giant painting after another. I have waited some time to see these, and am unsure what to expect. To dislike them would be a disappointment, but easy. If I think these paintings are any good, however, then I might have to reconsider my own creative talents. In fact, they might even challenge my understanding of what it means to be human.

The thing is, these paintings are not the work of an ordinary artist. Nor of Colton, who is a . Instead, they have been created by a piece of software that can seek artistic inspiration and, arguably, has a rudimentary imagination. Called the , it may have been designed by Colton, but its artwork is its own.

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