World’s first humanoid robot painting to sell at auction

Graphic News|Published 4 months ago

Ultra-realistic AI robot Ai-Da poses in front of a painting she made during the press preview of the London Design Biennale 2023 at Somerset House, central London, on June 1, 2023. The robot artist Ai-Da, a humanoid powered by artificial intelligence, will in October, 2024 be the first of its kind to have a painting sold at a major auction house. Picture: Ben Stansall / AFP

By Ninian Carter

Ai-Da, one of the most advanced humanoid robots in the world, is set to make history when its portrait painting of Alan Turing, entitled “AI God” goes to auction at Sotheby’s in London, where it’s expected to fetch between £100,000 and £150,000 (R2.3m and R3.4m).

The robot, created by UK art gallery owner Aidan Meller, was completed in 2019, and uses artificial intelligence (AI) to make drawings, paintings and sculptures using its camera eyes and robotic arms.

It is named after Ada Lovelace (1815-1852), the English mathematician and writer chiefly known for her work on Charles Babbage’s proposed mechanical general-purpose computer – the Analytical Engine.

According to auctioneers Sotheby’s, the painting of Turing – the World War II codebreaker regarded as the father of modern computer science — stands at an imposing 2.3 metres tall and is rendered in mixed media on canvas.

Meller describes Ai-Da's works as “ethereal and haunting” and that they “continue to question where the power of AI will take us, and the global race to harness its power”.

Ultra-realistic artist robot "Ai-Da" looks on during the world's largest gathering of humanoid AI Robots as part of International Telecommunication Union (ITU) AI for Good Global Summit in Geneva, on July 5, 2023. The United Nations is convening this week a global gathering to try to map out the frontiers of artificial intelligence and to harness its potential for empowering humanity, hoping to lay out a clear blueprint on the way forward for handling AI, as development of the technology races ahead the capacity to set its boundaries. Picture: Fabrice Coffrini / AFP

Sotheby’s Digital Art Sale runs from October 31 to November 7, 2024.