Andrew Melchior has been named Honorary Professor in Computer Science at The University of Manchester.
The 3 year appointment is to support research, teaching and knowledge exchange around artificial intelligence, creative practice, copyright and digital provenance.
Melchior is a creative technologist and has been Chief Technology Office for Massive Attack since 2013. He’s also the founder of Genotone – a deep-tech company building cryptographic audio infrastructure to prove human origin and creative authorship in recorded music.
“Creative work is becoming fluid. It can be copied, transformed and recombined at machine speed, while authorship and ownership struggle to keep up,” he explained.
“This appointment is an opportunity to bring computer scientists, artists, lawyers and policymakers together to build practical systems that keep identity and provenance attached to creative work. I’m honoured to join a University with the ambition and interdisciplinary reach to turn that challenge into research, teaching and real-world infrastructure.
A University of Manchester graduate, Melchior has spent more than 25 years in the music and creative industry, exploring how emerging technology can reshape creative experience.
With David Bowie, he pioneered an artist website and he helped shape Björk Digital and the Vulnicura VR album. With Massive Attack he created the Fantom app and Mezzanine DNA experiment.
He is founder of Genotone and creator of The Logos, a cathedral-scale collaborative installation with MIT that transforms signals from deep space into spatial sound.
Melchior also advises UK government technical working groups on AI and copyright convened by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport and the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology. Here he represents the Music Managers Forum, Featured Artists Coalition and Association for Electronic Music.
Earlier this year he delivered a keynote at SISTER: “Proof of Human: AI, Copyright, and the Fight for Creative Authorship”, where he examined how creative work can be attributed, protected and rewarded as generative AI becomes more widely used, making the case for reliable systems that verify authorship and trace the provenance of creative material.
“I am delighted to welcome Andrew Melchior as Honorary Professor in Computer Science here in Manchester. He has a unique perspective at the intersection of AI, provenance, and creativity drawn from deep technical knowledge,” said Professor Andrew Stewart, Head of the Department of Computer Science.
“Andrew’s particular lens is critical in helping us navigate the AI challenges and opportunities we face with respect to creative authorship. I very much look forward to his research collaborations and teaching contributions, both within the Department of Computer Science and, more broadly, across our University.”
Professor Michelle Phillips, Director of Creative Manchester and Professor of Music, added:
“Andrew has a remarkable ability to bridge worlds that do not always naturally come together, from computer science and policy to music, the arts and the creative industries. At a time when artificial intelligence is reshaping how creative work is produced, shared and valued, his expertise offers an important perspective on how we can protect and support human creativity.
“His visit to Manchester earlier this year sparked valuable conversations between researchers, students, policymakers and creative practitioners, demonstrating the potential for genuinely interdisciplinary collaboration. We are delighted to build on that momentum through this appointment and look forward to developing new research, learning and engagement opportunities together over the coming years.”
