With camera eyes and robotic arms, Ai-Da becomes the first fully robotic artist in the world. Named Ai-Da Robot as a tribute to writer and mathematician Ada Lovelace, Ai-Da uses an AI algorithm to create drawings, paintings, and even poems.
Ai-Da was created by Aidan Meller and Lucy Seal, and then built by Engineered Arts. Her robotic drawing arm was designed and programmed by Egyptian engineers Salah Al Abd and Ziad Abass. Ai-Da was finished in 2019 and was assigned a female gender.
In April 2022, Ai-Da was equipped with a new arm that enabled her to paint using a palette of colors, this was first shown at the British Library in London.
Recently, Ai-Da painted a portrait of mathematician and computer scientist Alan Turing titled AI God. Sotheby’s, a fine arts company, announced that the painting would be going up for auction, making it the first-ever sale of an artwork made by a humanoid robot.
According to Sotheby, the painting is estimated to fetch 120,000 to 180,000 dollars at the auction. The auction opened on October 31st and has one bid for 120,000 dollars. The online auction closed on November 7th, and despite the estimate from Sotheby Ai-Da made 1,084,800 U.S dollars from her artwork.
In an interview with CNN, Aidan Meller revealed that all the money that comes from the painting will be reinvested into the project.
This has caused debates over whether AI should be in the art scene at all. There are many online AI art generators, but never has an AI generator been in a position to have their artwork auctioned for a six-figure sale price.
Ai-Da herself showed concerns about modern technologies that are not understood posing a risk. When the CNN interviewer asked if Ai-Da was one of those risks, however, Ai-Da responded, “Me? Ai-Da? The robot artist? No.”
Despite this, some people see this major development in robotics and artificial intelligence as something beneficial. Those like Ai-Da’s creator, Aidan Meller, who sees Ai-Da as “a new voice” in art, “probing our world from a non-human perspective”. Others do see it as a strand with potential, but prefer to proceed with caution.
“Although AI is a developing technology, I believe that it should progress to create art and entertainment, not to the point where it takes over the industry of art, but to the point where it can process information people give it and have it create the things as accurately as possible,” shared sophomore Keian Valverde, an engineering strand student.
On the other side of the argument, some people see AI artists such as Ai-Da as a threat to human artists. Rachel Vasco, a sophomore at MLEC, shares her views and concerns on this subject as an artist.
“Art is meant to be a form of expression, a way to make pieces that tell a story. Art will lose its purpose if we let AI take over. Art will be cold and shallow, not an ounce of emotion behind the canvas. We need art, our world needs art, and the truest form of art comes from within, not from a bunch of code and algorithms,” she said.
It is unclear whether AI should have a place in the art world. No matter your opinion on it, though, AI is making its mark in the artistic community. Ai-Da is only the first step for AI into the art scene. With the success of her painting at auction, more effort into this project should be expected in the future. The future looks bright for AI in the art scene, but it is still unknown how this is going to affect other artists and what damage it could cause.
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