Conceptualizations in the Discourse on Computational Creativity—Using Frame Semantics and Cultural Schemas for a Cognitive-Oriented Discourse Analysis

This chapter aims to shed light on the conceptualization of creativity in the discourse on Artificial Creativity. Artificial Creativity, also known as Computational Creativity or Generative Art, has been making a lot of noise in recent years. The use of artificial systems in the field of art, such as the Generative Pre-trained Transformer 3 (GPT3) in the field of text production, humanoid robots like Ai-Da in the field of painting, or the Artificial Intelligence Virtual Artist (AIVA) in the field of music production are often understood as an affront to humanity. The concept of creativity—which is supposedly under attack by the use of AI systems in art—is a concept rich in tradition. (Artistic-)Creativity has been conceptualized quite differently in European art histories. The question that arises here from both a cultural and cognitive linguistic perspective is how creativity is conceptualized in the discourse on Computational Creativity. Given the assumption that conceptualizations are culturally shaped, but also culturally constitutive, the notion of creativity will be approached from a cognitive-oriented discourse analytical perspective. On the basis of a thematically relevant corpus data set what will be explored is which schemas are used to conceptualize the discourse on Computational Creativity. In adopting a corpus-driven and frame semantic approach both the cultural schemas (at the macro-level) (Sharifian, Sharifian (ed), The Routledge handbook of language and culture, Routledge, 2019: 477) and semantic frames (at the micro-level) of conceptualization are taken into account. This chapter pursues three objectives: firstly, it aims at introducing the concept of creativity, as well as of Computational Creativity; secondly, it will demonstrate an empirical and integrative approach to the discursive conceptualization of creativity by looking closely at keywords, n-grams, collocations and the CREATE-frame; and, thirdly, it will provide interpretative suggestions with reference to adjacent disciplines.