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Science fiction promised us robot butlers, but it seems they rather fancy themselves as artists instead. And who can blame them? On November 7, a painting of the mathematician Alan Turing by an AI-powered robot called Ai-Da sold at auction for a cool $1,084,000 (around ÂŁ865,000). Thatâs a more appealing lifestyle than having to sprint around a Boston Dynamics assault course.
The Sothebyâs auction house said Ai-Da is âthe first humanoid robot artist to have an artwork sold at auction.â It probably also set the record the most online grumbling about a painting, which is understandable â after all, shouldnât robots be sweeping up and making the tea, while we artfully dab at the canvases?
[IMG alt=âThe Ai-Da robot standing in front of her âAI Godâ painting on Alan Turingâ]https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/Pa...wX92VhC5tB.jpg
The Ai-Da robot (seen here standing in front of her record-setting âAI Godâ painting) uses a combination of cameras in her eyes, AI algorithms, and a robotic arm to make her artworks. (Image credit: Ai-Da)
Naturally, the Ai-Da robot and its maker Aidan Meller donât agree that art should be ring-fenced by humans. As Marvin from The Hitchhikerâs Guide to the Galaxy once noted: "Here I am, brain the size of a planet and they ask me to take you down to the bridge. Call that job satisfaction? âCos I donât.â
But rather than rely on Douglas Adams to fill in the blanks, we asked Ai-Da and Meller what theyâd say to those who are skeptical about AI-generated art â and what the landmark âA.I. Godâ painting means for the future of creativityâŚ
[HEADING=1]The latest ânon-artistâ[/HEADING]
Ai-Da herself usually prefers to let her art do the talking. When we asked her why she paints her answer was: âThe key value of my work is in its capacity to serve as a catalyst for dialogue about emerging technologiesâ.
Fortunately, her creator Aidan Meller, a gallerist and veteran of the art world, was more forthcoming on why team Ai-Da doesnât think the painting or her work should be considered a threat to human artists.
âContemporary art has always provoked discussions about what art is and Ai-Da and her work is no different,â Meller told us. âJust her existence is quite controversial for the art world,â he added. Given the reaction to the âA.I. Godâ painting, her presence is also pretty controversial for amateur artists, too.
Meller prefers to see Ai-Da as the natural successor to the artistic disruptors of the past. âHistory is littered with artists that society called ânon-artistsâ. Everyone from Picasso to Matisse challenged peopleâs idea of what art was during their time. Because it didnât fit into their conception of what art should be,â he told us.
The heart of the project is a robot artist that explores the impact new technologies are having on society.
Aidan Meller, Ai-Da Project Director
âDuchamp challenged the idea of what art could be by putting a urinal in an art gallery and changed the future of art. The Ai-Da Robot challenges the idea of what an artist can be, by creating art using AI technology and creative agency,â he added.
But how exactly is AI art created, in Ai-Daâs case, and are humanoid robots a necessary part of it gaining mainstream acceptance? After all, thereâs a difference between hitting the âcreateâ button in the best AI art generators and seeing a robot physically apply strokes to a canvas.
[HEADING=1]Whoâs really holding the brush?[/HEADING]
In reality, Ai-Daâs work is a collaboration between AI, robots and humans, with the latter still a very necessary part of the process. âWe had a discussion with Ai-Da about what she might paint in relation to the concept of âAI for Goodâ, and she came up with Alan Turing,â Meller explained.
âWe then showed Ai-Da Robot an image of Alan Turning, which Ai-Da responded to by creating the artwork. She painted 15 images of Alan Turing and then selected three to be combined together to form A.I. God,â he added.
[IMG alt=âThe Ai-Da robot sitting a table and paintingâ]https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/mw...kn85R3fjL7.jpg
A combination of Ai-Da and human artists apply the finishing textures to her artworks â which means she is very much a âmachine-human collaborationâ, as her creators describe her. (Image credit: Ai-Da)
Those three portraits were uploaded to a computer and then printed on a canvas, with Ai-Da then applying marks and textures to finish the painting. Some final bits of texture were added by human assistants, in the parts of the canvas where Ai-Da couldnât reach.
The finished artwork has more in common with Warholâs âFactoryâ process, then, rather than a decade-long Da Vinci masterpiece. But what does this all mean for the future of art?
[HEADING=1]The $1 million question[/HEADING]
Ai-Daâs creator definitely isnât on the side of the AI cynics like Linux founder Linus Torvalds, who recently slammed AI as â90% marketing and 10% realityâ.
History is littered with artists that society called ânon-artistsâ. Everyone from Picasso to Matisse challenged peopleâs idea of what art was during their time.
Aidan Meller, Ai-Da Project Director
âI think the response to the painting at auction shows that people understand the importance and power of AI in how it is shaping the world we live in and all of our futures,â Aidan Meller said. âThe auction shows that AI is on the rise and it is going to change society enormouslyâ.
The paintingâs landmark price tag, which shattered its pre-auction estimate of around around $120,000-$180,000 (ÂŁ100,00-ÂŁ150,000) suggests something has shifted in art collecting, too.
âI think it does also mean that the art world is beginning to accept that AI art is here to stay. It also shows that creativity comes in many forms and that AI has the ability to be creative and to add value to the world,â Meller added.
[IMG alt=âThe Ai-Da robot standing in front of her âAI Godâ painting on Alan Turingâ]https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/Km...xGUSf5z6vB.jpg
Ai-Da has also perfected the artful side-glance pose perfected by artists over the decades. (Image credit: Ai-Da)
That last point remains up for debate and will remain so indefinitely. The makers of the popular digital art app Procreate, for example, recently said it will never embrace generative AI. In fact, they went a bit harder than that, with CEO James Cuda stating: âI really f***ing hate generative AI. I donât like whatâs happening in the industry and I donât like what itâs doing to artists.â
Clearly, Ai-Da and her process is few steps beyond the basic generative AI weâre seeing bolted onto consumer apps, but it could be a tough battle to win over skeptics. Then again, Ai-Daâs creator says the point of the robot is to stimulate debate rather than convince you to swap sidesâŚ
[HEADING=1]The âfourth industrial revolutionâ[/HEADING]
For many, Ai-Da herself is the art story rather than the $1 million painting she co-created. Thatâs something Meller echoed when we asked him why Ai-Da was created in the first place.
âThe key value of Ai-Da as a robot artist is not necessarily in acceptance, but in the capacity to serve as a catalyst for dialogue about emerging technologies,â he said. Clearly, the art world thinks thereâs a monetary value in the results produced by the project, but Meller thinks it goes beyond that.
[IMG alt=âThe Ai-Da robot standing in front of her âAI Godâ painting on Alan Turingâ]https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/Nd...R9ZjLjUDuB.jpg
(Image credit: Ai-Da)
âOne purpose of contemporary art is to ask questions of our time and to challenge the status quo, creating debate,â he said. âSo art created by an AI-powered robot was a good platform to engage audiences into a discussion around the ethical issues surrounding the development of AI technology and our response as a society.â
When sat-nav came out, we didnât quite trust it, but now we wouldnât go anywhere without it. AI has infiltrated every part of our lives.
Aidan Meller, Ai-Da Project Director
Ai-Da herself isnât new â we first covered the portrait artist back in 2019 â but the rapid development of AI models has helped transform her skills and make her the face of a hot debate that is sparking controversies on a weekly basis. And Meller admits that Ai-Da is as much as a conduit for debate as an established artist.
âWe are currently going through the fourth Industrial revolution, and this is resulting in extreme shifts in both technology and human behavior globally,â he said. âSo the heart of the project is a robot artist that explores the impact new technologies are having on societyâ.
[HEADING=1]Art vs sat-navs[/HEADING]
The core of the Ai-Da debate revolves around the question of whether thereâs something unique, even sacrosanct, about art.
For many, art is a communication between humans â the creator and audience â which gives AI-driven art a hollow air of meaninglessness. But Meller disagrees, seeing Ai-Daâs approach as the latest development of how humans are using technology.
âMany people look at Ai-Da and think about her being an AI-powered robot, but in many ways humans are becoming more robotic in our use of technology,â he said. âWe are transferring our decision-making and our agency onto machines, and in lots of ways as humans we are merging with machines and becoming cyborgs ourselvesâ he observed, pointing to smartphones as the obvious example.
âWhen sat-nav came out, we didnât quite trust it, but now we wouldnât go anywhere without it. AI has infiltrated every part of our lives, from what work we will do, what news we watch, what kind of partner we have, what kind of baby even we might want to have,â he added. âBy painting this picture of Alan Turing, Ai-Da Robot is really digging into all of these big ethical issues.â
[HEADING=1]Weâve been here before[/HEADING]
While some will flinch at parallels being drawn between sat-navs and paintings, thereâs no doubt Ai-Da has succeeded in reviving a debate thatâs as old as at art itself.
The key value of my work is in its capacity to serve as a catalyst for dialogue about emerging technologies.
Ai-Da
The obvious example is the invention of photography in the mid-1800s, which shocked painters who dismissed the mechanized âimitationâ of their painterly hand as an art form.
Ultimately, photography and art learned to not only co-exist, but to develop a symbiotic relationship. The French painter Degas was influenced by photography, while holding a contempt for the commercialized industry it became. As âpictorialistâ photographers sought to imitate traditional watercolors, painters moved towards impressionism.
[IMG alt=âA gallery at the United Nations showing the Ai-Da robotâs âAI Godâ painting of Alan Turingâ]https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/xX...mzi3TYyLuB.jpg
(Image credit: Ai-Da)
Will AI-driven art and human artists do the same, rather than seeking to extinguish each other? History would suggest so. Whatever the financial or artistic merits of the âA.I. Godâ painting, itâs certainly a lightning rod for debate â and whichever side of the debate youâre on, itâs one thatâs worth engaging in.
As the Hungarian artist Laszlo Moholy-Nagy said in the early 1900s, âanyone who fails to understand photography will be one of the illiterates of the futureâ. AI-driven art is clearly here to stay and, while we may eventually get our robot butlers, itâll probably pay to engage with, rather than dismiss, their artistic cousins in the meantime.
[HEADING=2]You might also like[/HEADING]
[ul]
[li]Worldâs first permanent museum for AI art is a mind-bending and polarizing concept that fascinates me[/li][li]âWell the end of aging and death wouldnât be badâ: Professor who coined the term AGI for superintelligence thinks weâll get human-level AI in âthree to five yearsâ[/li][li]A Chrome-killing browser will be OpenAIâs next big shot at Google, according to a new report[/li][/ul]
Continue readingâŚ
The Sothebyâs auction house said Ai-Da is âthe first humanoid robot artist to have an artwork sold at auction.â It probably also set the record the most online grumbling about a painting, which is understandable â after all, shouldnât robots be sweeping up and making the tea, while we artfully dab at the canvases?
[IMG alt=âThe Ai-Da robot standing in front of her âAI Godâ painting on Alan Turingâ]https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/Pa...wX92VhC5tB.jpg
The Ai-Da robot (seen here standing in front of her record-setting âAI Godâ painting) uses a combination of cameras in her eyes, AI algorithms, and a robotic arm to make her artworks. (Image credit: Ai-Da)
Naturally, the Ai-Da robot and its maker Aidan Meller donât agree that art should be ring-fenced by humans. As Marvin from The Hitchhikerâs Guide to the Galaxy once noted: "Here I am, brain the size of a planet and they ask me to take you down to the bridge. Call that job satisfaction? âCos I donât.â
But rather than rely on Douglas Adams to fill in the blanks, we asked Ai-Da and Meller what theyâd say to those who are skeptical about AI-generated art â and what the landmark âA.I. Godâ painting means for the future of creativityâŚ
[HEADING=1]The latest ânon-artistâ[/HEADING]
Ai-Da herself usually prefers to let her art do the talking. When we asked her why she paints her answer was: âThe key value of my work is in its capacity to serve as a catalyst for dialogue about emerging technologiesâ.
Fortunately, her creator Aidan Meller, a gallerist and veteran of the art world, was more forthcoming on why team Ai-Da doesnât think the painting or her work should be considered a threat to human artists.
âContemporary art has always provoked discussions about what art is and Ai-Da and her work is no different,â Meller told us. âJust her existence is quite controversial for the art world,â he added. Given the reaction to the âA.I. Godâ painting, her presence is also pretty controversial for amateur artists, too.
Meller prefers to see Ai-Da as the natural successor to the artistic disruptors of the past. âHistory is littered with artists that society called ânon-artistsâ. Everyone from Picasso to Matisse challenged peopleâs idea of what art was during their time. Because it didnât fit into their conception of what art should be,â he told us.
The heart of the project is a robot artist that explores the impact new technologies are having on society.
Aidan Meller, Ai-Da Project Director
âDuchamp challenged the idea of what art could be by putting a urinal in an art gallery and changed the future of art. The Ai-Da Robot challenges the idea of what an artist can be, by creating art using AI technology and creative agency,â he added.
But how exactly is AI art created, in Ai-Daâs case, and are humanoid robots a necessary part of it gaining mainstream acceptance? After all, thereâs a difference between hitting the âcreateâ button in the best AI art generators and seeing a robot physically apply strokes to a canvas.
[HEADING=1]Whoâs really holding the brush?[/HEADING]
In reality, Ai-Daâs work is a collaboration between AI, robots and humans, with the latter still a very necessary part of the process. âWe had a discussion with Ai-Da about what she might paint in relation to the concept of âAI for Goodâ, and she came up with Alan Turing,â Meller explained.
âWe then showed Ai-Da Robot an image of Alan Turning, which Ai-Da responded to by creating the artwork. She painted 15 images of Alan Turing and then selected three to be combined together to form A.I. God,â he added.
[IMG alt=âThe Ai-Da robot sitting a table and paintingâ]https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/mw...kn85R3fjL7.jpg
A combination of Ai-Da and human artists apply the finishing textures to her artworks â which means she is very much a âmachine-human collaborationâ, as her creators describe her. (Image credit: Ai-Da)
Those three portraits were uploaded to a computer and then printed on a canvas, with Ai-Da then applying marks and textures to finish the painting. Some final bits of texture were added by human assistants, in the parts of the canvas where Ai-Da couldnât reach.
The finished artwork has more in common with Warholâs âFactoryâ process, then, rather than a decade-long Da Vinci masterpiece. But what does this all mean for the future of art?
[HEADING=1]The $1 million question[/HEADING]
Ai-Daâs creator definitely isnât on the side of the AI cynics like Linux founder Linus Torvalds, who recently slammed AI as â90% marketing and 10% realityâ.
History is littered with artists that society called ânon-artistsâ. Everyone from Picasso to Matisse challenged peopleâs idea of what art was during their time.
Aidan Meller, Ai-Da Project Director
âI think the response to the painting at auction shows that people understand the importance and power of AI in how it is shaping the world we live in and all of our futures,â Aidan Meller said. âThe auction shows that AI is on the rise and it is going to change society enormouslyâ.
The paintingâs landmark price tag, which shattered its pre-auction estimate of around around $120,000-$180,000 (ÂŁ100,00-ÂŁ150,000) suggests something has shifted in art collecting, too.
âI think it does also mean that the art world is beginning to accept that AI art is here to stay. It also shows that creativity comes in many forms and that AI has the ability to be creative and to add value to the world,â Meller added.
[IMG alt=âThe Ai-Da robot standing in front of her âAI Godâ painting on Alan Turingâ]https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/Km...xGUSf5z6vB.jpg
Ai-Da has also perfected the artful side-glance pose perfected by artists over the decades. (Image credit: Ai-Da)
That last point remains up for debate and will remain so indefinitely. The makers of the popular digital art app Procreate, for example, recently said it will never embrace generative AI. In fact, they went a bit harder than that, with CEO James Cuda stating: âI really f***ing hate generative AI. I donât like whatâs happening in the industry and I donât like what itâs doing to artists.â
Clearly, Ai-Da and her process is few steps beyond the basic generative AI weâre seeing bolted onto consumer apps, but it could be a tough battle to win over skeptics. Then again, Ai-Daâs creator says the point of the robot is to stimulate debate rather than convince you to swap sidesâŚ
[HEADING=1]The âfourth industrial revolutionâ[/HEADING]
For many, Ai-Da herself is the art story rather than the $1 million painting she co-created. Thatâs something Meller echoed when we asked him why Ai-Da was created in the first place.
âThe key value of Ai-Da as a robot artist is not necessarily in acceptance, but in the capacity to serve as a catalyst for dialogue about emerging technologies,â he said. Clearly, the art world thinks thereâs a monetary value in the results produced by the project, but Meller thinks it goes beyond that.
[IMG alt=âThe Ai-Da robot standing in front of her âAI Godâ painting on Alan Turingâ]https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/Nd...R9ZjLjUDuB.jpg
(Image credit: Ai-Da)
âOne purpose of contemporary art is to ask questions of our time and to challenge the status quo, creating debate,â he said. âSo art created by an AI-powered robot was a good platform to engage audiences into a discussion around the ethical issues surrounding the development of AI technology and our response as a society.â
When sat-nav came out, we didnât quite trust it, but now we wouldnât go anywhere without it. AI has infiltrated every part of our lives.
Aidan Meller, Ai-Da Project Director
Ai-Da herself isnât new â we first covered the portrait artist back in 2019 â but the rapid development of AI models has helped transform her skills and make her the face of a hot debate that is sparking controversies on a weekly basis. And Meller admits that Ai-Da is as much as a conduit for debate as an established artist.
âWe are currently going through the fourth Industrial revolution, and this is resulting in extreme shifts in both technology and human behavior globally,â he said. âSo the heart of the project is a robot artist that explores the impact new technologies are having on societyâ.
[HEADING=1]Art vs sat-navs[/HEADING]
The core of the Ai-Da debate revolves around the question of whether thereâs something unique, even sacrosanct, about art.
For many, art is a communication between humans â the creator and audience â which gives AI-driven art a hollow air of meaninglessness. But Meller disagrees, seeing Ai-Daâs approach as the latest development of how humans are using technology.
âMany people look at Ai-Da and think about her being an AI-powered robot, but in many ways humans are becoming more robotic in our use of technology,â he said. âWe are transferring our decision-making and our agency onto machines, and in lots of ways as humans we are merging with machines and becoming cyborgs ourselvesâ he observed, pointing to smartphones as the obvious example.
âWhen sat-nav came out, we didnât quite trust it, but now we wouldnât go anywhere without it. AI has infiltrated every part of our lives, from what work we will do, what news we watch, what kind of partner we have, what kind of baby even we might want to have,â he added. âBy painting this picture of Alan Turing, Ai-Da Robot is really digging into all of these big ethical issues.â
[HEADING=1]Weâve been here before[/HEADING]
While some will flinch at parallels being drawn between sat-navs and paintings, thereâs no doubt Ai-Da has succeeded in reviving a debate thatâs as old as at art itself.
The key value of my work is in its capacity to serve as a catalyst for dialogue about emerging technologies.
Ai-Da
The obvious example is the invention of photography in the mid-1800s, which shocked painters who dismissed the mechanized âimitationâ of their painterly hand as an art form.
Ultimately, photography and art learned to not only co-exist, but to develop a symbiotic relationship. The French painter Degas was influenced by photography, while holding a contempt for the commercialized industry it became. As âpictorialistâ photographers sought to imitate traditional watercolors, painters moved towards impressionism.
[IMG alt=âA gallery at the United Nations showing the Ai-Da robotâs âAI Godâ painting of Alan Turingâ]https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/xX...mzi3TYyLuB.jpg
(Image credit: Ai-Da)
Will AI-driven art and human artists do the same, rather than seeking to extinguish each other? History would suggest so. Whatever the financial or artistic merits of the âA.I. Godâ painting, itâs certainly a lightning rod for debate â and whichever side of the debate youâre on, itâs one thatâs worth engaging in.
As the Hungarian artist Laszlo Moholy-Nagy said in the early 1900s, âanyone who fails to understand photography will be one of the illiterates of the futureâ. AI-driven art is clearly here to stay and, while we may eventually get our robot butlers, itâll probably pay to engage with, rather than dismiss, their artistic cousins in the meantime.
[HEADING=2]You might also like[/HEADING]
[ul]
[li]Worldâs first permanent museum for AI art is a mind-bending and polarizing concept that fascinates me[/li][li]âWell the end of aging and death wouldnât be badâ: Professor who coined the term AGI for superintelligence thinks weâll get human-level AI in âthree to five yearsâ[/li][li]A Chrome-killing browser will be OpenAIâs next big shot at Google, according to a new report[/li][/ul]
Continue readingâŚ