Through artificial intelligence, Ai-Da paints and relates to the outside world. He is the world’s first humanoid artist. One of his works, a portrait of Alan Turing, was just sold at auction for over 1.3 million dollars.
For the first time in history a work of art created by a humanoid robot was sold at auction for 1.3 million dollars. The author is Ai-DaThe “world’s first ultra-realistic robot artist”as its creators define it, which through an advanced model of artificial intelligence it can create and relate to the world around it. French bob and denim overalls, in the vision of those who conceived it, Ai-Da is itself part of the work of art it creates.
Ironically or intended homage, the work sold Thursday 7 from the Sotheby auction house, is a portrait of what is today considered the father of artificial intelligence: Alan Turingthe English mathematician who became famous for having decoded the Enigma code, used by Germany to communicate during the Second World War, thus making a decisive contribution to the outcome of the conflict.
The history of the portrait of artificial intelligence
Sotheby’s auction house explained that the portrait of Ai-Da had an initial estimated value of between 120,000 and 180,000 dollars, therefore almost a tenth of the actual price with which the buyer, whose identity remained anonymous, purchased it. In addition to his own, they had been made 27 more offersbut none at his height.
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The final sum for which the work was sold marks the birth of “a new frontier of the world art market” and “establishes a new yardstick for artistic works created by humanoid robots.” Furthermore, this historic sale definitively proves how artificial intelligence is becoming increasingly relevant in the art world.
The work was also exhibited at the United Nations in May 2024. It seems strange to read this, but Ai-Da herself explained the reason for this subject: “By remembering Alan Turing with my artwork, exhibited at the United Nations, I intend to honor his contribution to the foundation of modern computing and artificial intelligence.”
Who is Ai-Da
The official website of the project that led to the birth of Ai-Da describes this robot as a “unique fusion of AI, machine, and man”. In addition to creating works of art, its very existence represents a work of art. The goal should be to bring us humans to reflect on our relationship with technologyboth as individuals and as a community.
Ai-Da is able to paint thanks to some cameras installed inside his eyes and to its robotic arm, executing the inputs processed by the complex artificial intelligence algorithms with which it is equipped. Some of his works were created in collaboration with human artists, as an expression of that increasingly blurred boundary between machine and human.
