On 9 August, Hong Kong Baptist University (HKBU) announced the launch of the ground-breaking “Turing AI Orchestra” (TAIO) — the next milestone in its visionary plan to explore and broaden the scope of possibilities in art co-creation by humans and artificial intelligence (AI). TAIO is the world’s first virtual ensemble built with state-of-the-art AI technology, signifying a new form of collaboration between humans and machines.
The announcement was made during the “Human, Machine, Art, Creativity: International Symposium” co-organised by HKBU and the Hong Kong Productivity Council, where world-renowned artists, researchers, scholars and industry professionals gathered to discuss the development of human-AI symbiotic art creativity.
Both the Symposium and TAIO are deliverables under a research project co-led by Professor Yike GUO, Vice-President (Research and Development), and Professor Johnny POON, Associate Vice-President (Interdisciplinary Research), of HKBU. The five-year project, titled “Building Platform Technologies for Symbiotic Creativity in Hong Kong”, had been granted a significant funding of HK$52.8 million by Hong Kong’s Research Grants Council for developing platform technologies in support of symbiotic creativity.
TAIO aims to provide an open platform for artists and scientists from around the world to collaborate in a dynamic and innovative environment, and will play a useful role in AI research and development that will disrupt the world of art. It also echoes one of the research project’s tasks — to build a Digital Art and Policy Network for symbiotic creativity collaboration and related policy innovation. With the help of Blockchain technologies, TAIO will also help realise the world’s first Decentralised Autonomous Organisation (DAO) ecosystem for art creation.
Another key project deliverable closely related to TAIO was a human-AI joint performance during the annual gala concert of the HKBU Symphony Orchestra in July titled “A Lovers’ Reunion.” The performance, featuring an AI choir with the voices of 320 virtual singers, together with an AI media artist who could interpret lyrics, and a group of AI dancers, was the first of its kind in the world. It was powered by the AI technologies developed by the scientists from HKBU’s Augmented Creativity Lab under Professor Guo’s headship.
TAIO symbolises how HKBU is pushing the frontiers of art-tech to transform the development of art and culture. It is hoped that TAIO will help drive the advancement of art-tech in Hong Kong, and thereby enabling the city to become a global leader in the field as well as an international cultural and art hub. In the time to come, TAIO will undoubtedly revolutionise creative art processes and performances, opening a new era of art-tech for the benefit of the world.