Art made by humanoid robot sells for $1 million at auction

Sotheby’s recently held an auction for the first artwork made by a humanoid robot. And while the company was expecting the sale to fall between $120,000 and $180,000, the piece ultimately went for over $1 million, after a fierce round that saw 27 bids.

The art, entitled A.I. God. Portrait of Alan Turing, was made by a robot artist called Ai-da (a hat tip to computer programmer Ada Lovelace). The robot project is headed by Aidan Meller, who has over 25 years’ worth of experience in the art world. Meller says part of Ai-da’s purpose is to blur human/machine relations.

“The greatest artists in history grappled with their period of time, and both celebrated and questioned society’s shifts,” he told AI for Good. “Ai-Da Robot as technology, is the perfect artist today to discuss the current obsession with technology and its unfolding legacy. Is the so called ‘progress’ in technology something we really want, and if so, how should it manifest?”

As for the work itself, Sotheby’s said it was “inspired by Pablo Picasso’s Guernica and Doris Salcedo’s Atrabiliarios, works that portray human suffering through splintered, distorted aesthetics.” It also said the style was similar to Edvard Munch, whose most famous work is The Scream.

The work was exhibited at the AI for Good Global Summit at the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland earlier this year before going up for bids.

The Ai-da robot uses a combination of cameras in its eyes and an AI algorithm to control its robotic arm. All of that machinery is held within a body dressed as a woman with a bobbed haircut, dressed in overalls.