AI robot 'art' might fetch $180K through Sotheby's auction
The robot named "Ai-Da" used AI algorithms, cameras and robotic arms to paint the "first-ever artwork made by a humanoid robot," Smithsonian Magazine reported Wednesday.
The abstract portrait is called "A.I. God. Portrait of Alan Turing," who was a British mathematician and is credited with being the first person to work on AI, which he referred to as "intelligent machinery," in 1948.
U.K.-based Sotheby's is auctioning the painting and estimates the portrait could sell for between $120,000 and $180,000.
"I am intrigued to see my art, AI God, at Sotheby's," a statement attributed to Ai-Da says.
"My artwork uses a fractured and multi-layers approach," the statement continues, "and this shows the deeper emotional and intellectual layers of Alan Turing himself."
A team of scientists at Oxford University and led by Aidan Meller created Ai-Da in 2019 and gave the robot a human face and a wig of short, dark hair that makes it appear to be female.
Proceeds from the painting's sale will help fund further development of the robot and its AI capabilities.
"What makes this work of art different from other AI-generated works is that with Ai-Da there is a physical manifestation," Meller told CBS MoneyWatch. "This is the first time a work from a robot of this type has ever come to auction."
Meller said "art is a way of discussing the incredible changes in society that are happening because of technology."
Sotheby's started the online auction of the painting on Thursday.
"Ai-Da's portrait joins a selection of cutting-edge works that ... push the boundaries of artistic creation today," Sotheby's head of NFT and digital art, Michael Bouhanna, said in a statement.
"They prompt a discussion of how we can appreciate and experience the ever-evolving possibilities around art-making in the 21st century," he added.