When a computer program fixes a writer’s novel, or improvises a few bars of music, is that real creativity? Are they not just doing what they were programmed to do? Blaise Agüera y Arcas would wholeheartedly disagree. He’s a tech visionary at the forefront of artificial intelligence. He currently leads Google’s Machine Intelligence group in Seattle, where he brings together artists and engineers. He tells Steve Paulson that the newest deep learning models really can go beyond what they’ve been taught.