Harold Cohen (b. 1928) is a pioneer of computer art. He studied painting at the Slade School of Fine Arts in London. In 1968 he moved to the USA. From 1973-1975 he worked at the Laboratory for Artificial Intelligence at Stanford University, where he developed the computer program AARON, which became his creative authority from then on. Besides instructions on form and colour the program also takes into account what AARON has previously drawn, thus making it highly complex. Over the years AARON was further developed by the artist ('taught by the artist'), making it more and more a complex system. AARON can be seen as the first robot in human history to create art, the world's first pure A.I. (artificial intelligence) artist. The machine for example even selects and mixes colours and washes out the brushes. AARON cannot learn new techniques or imagery on its own - this must be hand-coded by Harold Cohen - but it is capable of producing a practically infinite output of distinct images in its own style.
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Harold Cohen often signs the drawings created with the AARON computer program with 'AARON' along with the time when it was created.
