Creepy ‘AI God’ art painted by humanoid robot fetches whopping $1.3million in ‘world first’ auction
ARTWORK painted by a humanoid robot has fetched $1.3million at auction, far exceeding expectations, in a world first.
Ai-Da, named after Ada Lovelace, is the first robot to have its artwork sold at a major auction house, Sotheby’s.
The auction for an abstract painting of Alan Turing, titled ‘AI God’, ran from 31 October to 7 November.
It was expected to sell for somewhere between $120,000 and $180,000.
“My artwork is a portrait of Alan Turing, the brilliant British mathematician who laid the foundation for modern computing and artificial intelligence,” Ai-Da said of her artwork.
“The portrait has a fractured and layered quality, reflecting our current, fragmented and multifaceted worlds.”
The Turing portrait is part of a five-panelled polyptych, which was displayed at a United Nations global summit on AI in Geneva earlier this year.
The process saw Ai-Da paint several small portraits of Alan Turing, before combining them and scaling them up onto a large canvas.
Studio Assistants then add a finish to the artwork, after which Ai-Da paints on top of the canvas adding new marks and texture.
Ai-Da was created by a team of scientists, led by Aidan Meller, at Oxford University in early 2019.
The robot uses a combination of AI algorithms, cameras and metal arms to paint.
The abstract of Turing, signed ‘A’, was inspired by his role as the father of modern computer science, having cracked Nazi codes during World War II.
However, in 1952, Turing was charged with “gross indecency” when he admitted to having a sexual relationship with a man.
“We are absolutely in that transitional point of going from a human world where humans make all the decisions to a post-human world, where the algorithms are starting to make all the decisions,” Meller told Reuters.
“I think actually to highlight that with the ultimate expression ‘A.I. God’ is a really good way of actually showing that significance as we transition.”
One of the top concerns surrounding the tech is that instead of AI picking up laborious tasks and leaving the ‘fun stuff’ like art and music to humans – it could be the other way around.
AI art generators are becoming increasingly sophisticated, while Ai-Da’s first auction may spell the start of a worrying trend.
“Is it art? Well, that’s up to the audience to decide,” Meller added.
“Our focus is an ethical arts project that explores the current beginning of the Fourth Industrial Revolution,” he said.
The proceeds will go toward Ai-Da’s continued development.
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