Dr. Cope is an author, composer, and professor at UC Santa Cruz. His primary area of research involves artificial intelligence and music; he writes programs and algorithms that can analyze existing music and create new compositions in the style of the original input music. In addition to regular music classes, he teaches a summer Workshop in Algorithmic Computer Music that is open to the public as well as a general education course, Music 80L: Artificial Intelligence and Music, for enrolled UCSC students. Cope has published a wide range of books, which are often used as textbooks.