Sotheby's Digital Art Day Action, now underway, features a large-scale portrait of  Alan Turing created by Ai-Da, the humanoid robot artist whose work, including this canvas, was exhibited at the United Nations in May 2024 during the AI for Good Global Summit.

Having her work on sale at a major auction house is another first for Ai-Da. The artwork in question, A.I. God, is one of three portraits of Alan Turing that together with portrait of Ada Lovelace (after whom Ai-Da is named) and a self portrait, that formed a five-panelled polyptych.

I first reported on Ai-Da in February 2019 when she was preparing her first art exhibition called "Unsecured Futures" scheduled for May, 2019. In that report I commented that the exhibition's notes included a very honest presentation of this newcomer:

"Ai-Da is a mechanical robot, she is not real and has no thoughts and feelings, but she foretells a period when trans-human biotechnology could be possible."

My next encounter with Ai-Da, ahead of an exhibition of her work at London's Design Museum including three large self-portraits, reported was in 2021:

Nobody is pretending that Ai-Da is a real woman. She is the "brainchild" of gallery director Aidan Meller, and has been developed by the researcher Lucy Seal, Engineered Arts Ltd together with students from the University of Oxford. Essentially Ai-Da is a computer vision system plus robotic arms, but with a face and body modelled on a young woman. 

A year later she exhibited at the Venice Biennale, a notable first for a robot, and we had more details of how she produces her artwork, reporting that Ai-Da paint's in the same way as artists have traditionally painted. With a paintbrush clamped in a bionic hand and camera eyes regarding the subject, the robot uses AI algorithms to "decide" what brush strokes to make.

In 2022 Aida was the first robot to give evidence to a House of Lords committee and the next year was a keynote speaker at the United Nations AI For Good Global Summit.

It was during the 2024 AI For Good Global Summit that she unveiled and exhibited the AI God triptych, one panel of which is now at auction. Commenting on this work Ai-Da stated:

"By commemorating Alan Turing in my artwork, which was displayed at the United Nations, I aim to honour his contributions towards the foundation of modern computing and artificial intelligence."

Sotheby's has put an estimate of $120,000 - 180,000 on this artwork and it has already met its low estimate. The sale, being conducted online, ends on 6th November at 19:01 UTC. 

Describing the sale as a landmark event, its catalog entry claims:

This sale positions Ai-Da’s work alongside celebrated contemporary and historical artists, suggesting a paradigm shift where machines are recognized as active participants in the creative process. Ai-Da’s art, therefore, invites viewers to consider both the promises and potential pitfalls of AI—a reflection on how technology can shape, and even redefine, human agency and creativity. Her art compels us to confront the evolving definition of what it means to create, to think, and to be as AI becomes more integrated into society.

This theme is explored in this video produced by Sotheby's:

The video seeks to convince us that we should consider Ai-Da's work as being comparable to that of other artists whose works have been exhibited at the Venice Bienale or the Tate Modern, where her works have also made an appearance. Personally I think there's a clear distinction and that Ai-Da's art should be considered as AI-generated and thus readily reproducible. 

The full Digital Art Day Auction comprises 17 lots with the other lots being virtual works of art. I can't help but think that the sale is only possible because of the ignorance of the potential buyers. We have entered an age where AI-generated art is cheaply produced - just ask DALL-E or one of the other generative art AIs to create an image from a description and it will do it in a very short time. What distinguishes these masterpieces from the run-of-the-mill AI-generated art isn't at all clear and until it is buying such art is close to con trick that only works as long as the potential market believes it has something special and unique. Uniqueness is promised via the digital certificates associated with each work - "specialness" is quite another matter. For my money none of the works in this sale has even a slight spark of anything original and impressive - if you feel anything its a vague suggestion that they remind you of some other work.

More Information

Sotheby's Digital Art Day Auction 

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