We all know that AI is set to take over our world, but is it about to take over the art world too? Just recently, Christie’s, a famous art auction house, sold its first ever AI generated portrait, “The Portrait of Edmond Belamy.” It didn’t just sell though, it blew way past the $7,000-$10,000 estimated bid. This painting sold for $432,500.
This painting was created with an algorithm. The AI was given 15,000 portraits and has two different functions: A Generator and Discriminator. The goal of these functions is to generate new images and run it through the discriminator to try and trick the AI into believing that the images generated are real-life portraits. If the AI senses that the painting isn’t real, then the process begins all over again until a successful result. The signature of the portrait is the algorithm used to generate the painting.
This portrait isn’t the first piece of AI art sold at Christie’s, however. There is an “artist” that goes by the name of AICAN, that says it is “the first time that AI generates art without any human intervention…and generates art the people like” (AICAN.com). These pieces, though modern and abstract, are generated with the knowledge of all different styles. The website marketplace is selling different prints made by the AI, with prices ranging from $500 to $20,000.
To see this huge step into the future of technology along with the future of art is incredible. Although, it is hard to say how art critics and art historians will react to this new leap in the art world. Will they appreciate the technological advancements? Will they question the authenticity of the pieces? Art is a study so deeply rooted in the past, with such a strong connection to the artist, I wonder if there will be lots of negative backlash to AI generated art?
More AICAN paintings can be found here: https://www.aican.io