In 1986, electronic music pioneer Laurie Spiegel created Music Mouse, a way for those with a Mac, Atari, or Amiga computer to dabble in algorithmic music creation. Music Mouse is deceptively simple: Notes are arranged on an XY grid, and you play it by moving a mouse around. Music Mouse restricts you to particular scales, and then you explore them simply by pushing a mouse around. Laurie Spiegel answered some questions for us about the history of Music Mouse, algorithmic composition, AI, and why she thinks the computer is a “folk instrument.”What were the origins of Music Mouse? “Music Mouse is not a generative algorithm or an ‘AI.’ It’s a musical instrument that a person can play.”What do you think separates algorithmically generated music from something created by generative AI?