This Seasons Hottest New Collaborator: AI

For many years brands have been engaging in creative collaborations, seeking to explore unexpected combinations, design exciting limited editions and form new, lasting partnerships.

Now with the help of AI, the world of collaboration is expanding as more and more designers, chefs and artists team up with AI services to create new and exciting pieces they couldn’t have made alone.

Long gone are the days in which AI was called upon solely for efficiency or ease – it is now becoming considered a legitimate creative entity in its own right. With both man and machine bringing something equally important to the table, these are creative endeavours that rely on a fair partnership.

Below are four of the most interesting products of human and AI collaboration we’ve spotted this month. Sometimes it is the producer/creator that works with AI to create something new, and other times it is the end user that becomes the collaborator.

1) The first AI music album

Photo Credit: Taryn Southern

Earlier this month YouTube personality and songwriter Taryn Southern announced she will be teaming up with musical AI Amper for her next album ‘I AM AI’. Although Taryn will be providing the lyrics and vocals, the chord progressions, notation and instrumentation will be designed and produced entirely by Amper.

Taryn stated in TechCrunch earlier in the year that she believed “the future of music is going to be created in the collaboration between humans and AI”, and she is now testing that theory.

2) The cognitive dress

Photo credit: City AM

Fashion brand Marchesa recently collaborated with IBM’s AI system Watson to create a dress that understands and responds to its fans.

By scanning large volumes of social data generated by fans, Watson was able to change the colour of the dress in response to social sentiment.

Not only that, but the machine was able to make recommendations to the Marchesa team on subjects such as fabric choice and fit based on the emotional implications of tweets generated around the garment.

3) Selfie masterpieces

Photo credit: 9to5mac.com

Recently launched smartphone app Prisma allows users to transform their photos and videos into stunning works of art by recreating them using the styles of famous artists.

Through a unique combination of neural networks and artificial intelligence, the software has learnt the unique approaches of greats such as Van Gogh, Picasso and Levitan, and can apply it to any photo users upload.

4) Downloadable dishes

Photo credit: Moley

It was recently announced that in 2018, the world’s first fully-automated cooking robot, Moley, will be launched. Moley will have unlimited access to chefs and their recipes worldwide, meaning the exact techniques of some of the most highly regarded chefs will become downloadable.

With the help of this technology, Michelin star food could be democratised, and every home kitchen could feature its own Gordon Ramsay.

There are lots for brands to learn from these creations, as they exemplify AI’s versatility and prove it can be applied to enhance and extend multiple offerings. As integration becomes more normalised in our society, and consumers become more discerning than ever, AI will become an inevitable presence in our daily lives.

But presence doesn’t necessarily mean dominance, AI is something that we can partner with for invention and true collaboration.

By Tom Pattison, Cultural Insight UK, Kantar Added Value