A painting by Ai-Da, an ultra-realistic humanoid robot artist, just sold for an eye-popping amount.
The humanoid robot painted AI God as a tribute to Alan Turing, the father of modern computer science. In a video before the sale, Ai-Da explained that the “dissolving portrait reflects the transition from human agency toward a post-human world where algorithms make many of the decisions and technology’s influence is pervasive and integrated.”
The robot added: “This is where developments such as large neural networks and CRISPR are increasingly giving us god-like capabilities.”
As the first painting by a robot to go on sale at a major auction house, the Turing homage was expected to sell for between $120K and $180K. The price it sold for shockingly exceeded expectations.
AI God sold for more than $1 million at Sotheby’s, ensuring it won’t be the last robot painting at the auction house. It’s a major milestone. Let’s explore what it all means as the worlds of art, AI and robotics collide.
Ai-Da is considered the world’s first AI-powered humanoid artist. Oxford University researchers led by Aidan Meller developed the robot in 2019 to explore the creative possibilities of AI robots.
“I do think that we’re in a huge pivot point in history technologically because of the capability as we go toward this controversial word called The Singularity,” Meller told tech influencer Dinis Guarda. “As we get more powerful computers coming in, the world is going to be changing. We are in a period of flux.”
Ai-Da is designed to create original art pieces. Its eyes contain high resolution cameras for it to interpret subjects visually.
To create the Turing artwork, the humanoid’s creators showed it reference images of the historic figure. Its AI system then processed the visual data, analyzing and converting it into coordinates which Ai-Da’s robotic arm used to recreate visual elements on canvas in a unique abstract style.
Its hardware was designed in collaboration with Engineered Arts, the British robotics company behind the world-famous Ameca humanoid robot. Since its creation, Ai-Da has received upgrades in machine learning and visual processing to improve its abilities interpreting depth, color, and patterns. As the robot has evolved, so has the complexity of its artwork.
The AI God painting’s buyer has chosen to remain anonymous. The proceeds will go toward advancing Ai-Da.
Before the action Ai-Da responded to criticism of AI-generated art, telling CNN: “The key value of my work is in its capacity to serve as a catalyst for dialogue about emerging technologies. If that isn’t value, I don’t know what is.”
Adjusted for inflation, the AI-generated painting’s million-dollar sale is in the same ballpark as The Tragedy by Pablo Picasso, The Sleeping Gypsy by Henri Rousseau, Wheat Field with Cypresses by Vincent van Gogh, The Kiss by Gustav Klimt and Christ in the Storm on the Sea of Galilee by Rembrandt.
The big sale is likely to heighten concerns around AI-generated artwork as it demonstrates clear profitability in the traditional art market. AI-generated art has rapidly evolved in recent years, moving from experimental projects to commercially viable, high-quality pieces.
In 2021, Sophia, the famous humanoid robot by Hanson Robotics, entered the digital art world with its own NFT artwork titled Sophia Instantiation. The collaboration between Sophia and Italian digital artist Andrea Bonaceto sold for an impressive $688K.
Also in 2021, Machine Hallucinations, Space: Metaverse by Refik Anadol sold for over $5 million as an NFT on Sotheby’s Metaverse platform. The piece used data from space imagery to create immersive, large-scale visuals.