Dr Mike Cook - King's College London

Dr Cook investigates how AI can be autonomously creative and, in doing so, how it can help support people in creating things themselves. He specialises in tools and systems for the games industry, as well as the general philosophy and analysis of generative algorithms. Game development is a difficult, multifaceted, and highly subjective activity, requiring expertise in many creative domains including writing, art, programming, and design. Any one of these tasks are hard to solve individually, but conceiving of designs which bring these areas together is a challenge in and of itself and requires a multidisciplinary approach as well as a spectrum of AI techniques from across the field.

To make sure these tools are useful and interesting to the creative workers who are set to use them, it is also vital that we study how AI systems can integrate with teams and speak to individuals. Dr Cook also researches in the field of computational creativity, which focuses on building systems that are integrated with the people that interact with them – whether they be users, coworkers, or an audience. By studying ways in which AI can explain themselves and communicate with those around them, we can find better ways to integrate AI into our everyday lives, and mitigate some of the fears, harms, and problems associated with the current frontier of AI systems.