One thing that I don't think this thought experiment considers is that Apple created a market. No one thought that computers would have value to individual consumers. It took a leap of faith on Jobs' part to design, build, and market something that no one even wanted. I have trouble seeing how a machine or algorithm can ever accomplish something like that.
Apple was not the first Personal computer or even in the first generation of personal computers so Steve did not really create anything other than a slicker version of something that already existed. Steve Jobs is more of a Don Draper than a Thomas Edison.
I'll agree with you about Jobs. I used him and Apple as an example because they're easier to grasp and everyone know about them. I still think the point holds though; how can a computer or algorithm know what people want, before they want it? How can machines take a leap of faith?
faith is treating things you don't know like you do. Computers are great at that.