Marcus du Sautoy

Britain’s best-known mathematician looks at the nature of creativity and asks how long it will be before computers can compose a symphony, write a Nobel Prize-winning novel or paint a masterpiece.

Many everyday human tasks are being done as well, or better, by artificial intelligence. Du Sautoy asks how much of our emotional response to a great work of art is down to our brains reacting to pattern and structure and what it is to be creative in mathematics, art, language and music. Could machines come up with something creative, and might that push us into being more imaginative in turn?

Du Sautoy is professor of mathematics at the University of Oxford and Simonyi Professor for the Public Understanding of Science. He is one of the best-known science writers today. His books include What we cannot Know, The Great Unknown and How to Count to Infinity.