The Turing test and artistic creativity

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to consider the Turing test (TT) in relation to artistic creativity. Design/methodology/approach - Considers the TT in the domain of art rather than the usual context. Examines the TT in music and gives examples that involve exploratory creativity. Findings - The TT for computer art has been passed "behaviourally" already occasionally, at a world class level. Where non-interactive examples (such as AARON and Emmy) are concerned, the test has been passed in a relatively strong form. Research limitations/implications - Raises the problem concerning the concept of creativity which is closely linked in most people's minds with the concept of art. There may be no such thing as computer art because there is no such thing as computer creativity. These arguments are examined and questioned. Practical implications - This paper produces a discussion, which bears upon the relevance of the TT to artistic creativity and computer artworks and also in relation to musical creativity. Originality/value - Provides further discussion about the imitation game in the context of computational creativity.