London: In a first, researchers working on artificial intelligence have taught a computer to create magic tricks which can be delivered by a magician.
The researchers gave a computer programme the outline of how a magic jigsaw puzzle and a mind reading card trick work, as well the results of experiments into how humans understand magic tricks, and the system created completely new variants on those tricks.
The magic tricks created were of the type that use mathematical techniques rather than sleight of hand or other theatrics, and are a core part of many magicians' repertoires.
The tricks proved popular with audiences and the magic puzzle was put on sale in a London magic shop.
"Computer intelligence can process much larger amounts of information and run through all the possible outcomes in a way that is almost impossible for a person to do on their own," said co-creator of the project, Howard Williams from the University of Queen Mary London.
"So while, a member of the audience might have seen a variation on this trick before, the AI can now use psychological and mathematical principles to create lots of different versions and keep audiences guessing," said Williams, explaining how a computer can aid trick creation.
The magic jigsaw involves assembling a jigsaw to show a series shapes, then taking it apart and reassembling it so that certain shapes have disappeared using a clever geometric principle.
Creation of tricks of this kind involve several simultaneous factors such as the size of the puzzle, the number of pieces involved, the number of shapes that appear and disappear and the ways that the puzzle can be arranged.
Something this complex is ideal for an algorithm to process, and make decisions about which flexible factors are most important, researchers said.
The mind reading card trick involves arranging a deck of playing cards in a specific way then, based on a few seemingly innocuous pieces of information from the audience, identifying a card that has been seen selected from the deck and using an Android app to reveal the card on a mobile phone screen.
The computer was used to arrange the decks in such a way that a specific card could be identified with the least amount of information possible.
The programme identified arrangements for the deck that on average required one fewer question to be asked before the card was found than with the traditional method.
The app simply avoids the magician having to remember the order of the cards.
"Using AI to create magic tricks is a great way to demonstrate the possibilities of computer intelligence and it also forms a part of our research in to the psychology of being a spectator," Professor Peter McOwan, part of the QMUL team who worked on the project, added.
The study was published in the journal Frontiers in Psychology.
