A work by the robot artist Ai-Da, a humanoid equipped with artificial intelligence, will be auctioned in November, which is a first, announced Sotheby’s.
His portrait of the English mathematician Alan Turing, considered one of the fathers of modern computing, is one of the lots in this online auction located at the “intersection of art and technology”, which will take place from 31 October to November 7.
This painting called “AI God”, whose sale price will be announced at the closing, is estimated between 100,000 and 150,000 pounds (120,000-180,000 euros). according to the designers of Ai-Da.
This ultra-realistic robot is one of the most advanced in the world. He has bionic arms, but his face, framed by a brown wig, gives him a disturbing resemblance to a human.
It was created in 2019 by a team led by Aidan Meller, gallery owner and founder of Ai-Da Robot Studio, with AI specialists at the universities of Oxford and Birmingham in England. Its name is inspired by Ada Lovelace, the first coder in history.
This robot artist, who uses AI to create paintings or sculptures, has cameras in his eyes and his bionic hands. It moves and expresses itself autonomously, without human intervention.
“Through my Alan Turing works, I commemorate his achievements and contributions to the development of computing and AI,” the robot was quoted as saying in a statement.
This portrait, a deconstructed face in dark tones, visibly evokes Alan Turing’s fears regarding the use of this technology and “continues to question how far the power of AI will take us”, underlined the creator of ‘Ai-Da, Aidan Meller.
Works by Ai-Da have already been exhibited at the Venice Biennale, at the Design Museum in London, at the pyramids of Giza and at the United Nations. The robot gave a speech to the House of Lords in 2022.
Other works questioning the role of artificial intelligence and the definition of artistic creation will be sold during this week of online auctions.
