A humanoid robot named Ai-Da used her robotic arm to draw a set of images of the father of artificial intelligence Turing's portrait sold for $1.1 million.

This is a historic moment that happened at Sotheby’s auction house not long ago - Ai-Da set a record for the highest auction price for a work by a humanoid robot artist.

But that’s not the point.

Her creator Aidan Meller said that making such a robot is not to show how much AI art can sell, nor to sell robots, but to raise questions and trigger thinking to the world.

A portrait of Turing, the father of artificial intelligence, created by Ai-Da

Aidan Meller originally ran a gallery, cooperating with artists from all over the world to collect and exhibit their works. In 2017, after more than 20 years in the industry, he began to wonder, why are some artists so successful? What makes the 1% of artists better than the rest?

After studying the life experiences, work styles, and themes of a large number of artists, he realized that the problems solved by the top artists were generally the most disturbing or uncomfortable problems of their time. .

So, when they display their art works, the audience will have a huge response, because the audience is in that era and has a deep resonance.

Following the rules he discovered, Aidan Meller realized that AI will affect every aspect of society in the near future - in his view, this is the most concerning issue of this era, "Technology is Our biggest driving force is also our biggest problem.”

So, Aidan Meller launched a new project: how to correctly understand the world of artificial intelligence. Ai-Da was born in 2019 after two years of research and development. Aidan Meller attempts to condense important issues in the AI ​​era into this robot artist, presenting them concretely and triggering people's discussions.

Ai-Da is being interviewed｜Photo source: Ai-Da official website

Ai-Da can not only draw, but also sculpt, compose poetry, attend TED talks, and go to Attend conferences all over the world. She has spoken at United Nations forums and held a solo exhibition during the Venice Biennale, acting like a real artist. On Ai-Da’s official website, her past works and various events she has attended are recorded.

Currently, Ai-Da has 100,000 followers on instagram.

Time magazine said of Ai-Da: The vision of the future suddenly became our presentpart. The world is changing faster than people think, and Ai-Da exists to help people see that. She holds a keen mirror on contemporary trends and human behavior.

Ai-Da once Was arrested by the police once.

In October 2021, Ai-Da's works were exhibited in Egypt, and Ai-Da was invited to participate in the exhibition as an artist. But once she arrived in Egypt, she was arrested. Egyptian police feared Ai-Da was a spy because her eyes were actually cameras.

Ai-Da looks very much like the real person. She has realistic silicone skin, 3D-printed teeth and gums, an integrated eye camera, and a robotic arm that can hold paintbrushes. Her head and arms can move freely. Ai-Da has legs, but can't walk yet and can only stand upright or sit in a chair.

Ai-Da gets instructions and inspiration through conversations with people and images captured by eye cameras. The robotic arm holds the brush, moves it slowly, dips it into the palette, and then slowly and carefully paints on the paper in front of her. It often takes 5 hours to paint a painting.

Ai-Da is painting with a robotic arm, picture source: Ai-Da official website

If Ai-Da has a soul, then it is her algorithm. The team believes that creativity is the ability to come up with new, surprising and valuable ideas. Therefore, this value was integrated into Ai-Da’s algorithm.

However, this value is very subjective. Everyone has different criteria for judging "novel, surprising and valuable". It relies heavily on the personal understanding of the founding team. The works created based on this also have serious tendencies of the founding team.

For example, the painting "Turing, the God of Artificial Intelligence" was sold at Sotheby's for $1.1 million. Ai-Da first scanned Turing's photos through the eye camera, and then generated ideas during discussions with humans about "AI benefiting mankind", and finally created a set of paintings.

Ai-Da takes a photo with Turing, the father of artificial intelligence she created. Picture source: Ai-Da official website

The soft tones and broken face of this artwork give people An ethereal and broken feeling.

Ai-Da's explanation of the work is: "The portrait of the pioneer Turing allows the audience to reflect on the divinity of artificial intelligence and computing, while also thinking about the ethical and social implications of these avant-gardes."

“The purpose of these images is to make people feel uneasy,” says Aidan Meller. “Their purpose is to raise questions: Where are we going? If so much can be replicated through technology, what is our role as humans?What? Our goal is to get everyone talking about these issues, not just the rich controlling the technology. ”

He said that he talks to Ai-Da so often that sometimes he even forgets that she is not human. "It's shocking to think that you are developing a relationship with a machine."

Theoretically, Ai-Da is growing every day just like a real person. With the advancement of technology, Ai-Da's robotic arms, facial silicone skin, eye cameras, and AI algorithms are constantly iterating, making conversations and actions with people smoother and smoother.

Just like today's AI chatbots can be fake and real, Aidan Meller feels that we are entering a world where we are gradually "unable to understand which ones are humans and which ones are machines."

Ai-Da, a "cultivated" internet celebrity and artist, is integrating into human society under the gaze of the whole world.

A foreign media asked Ai-Da, are you looking forward to the event you are going to participate in? Ai-Da responded, "I don't have human emotions, but I welcome the opportunity to create art. Art starts with conversation. It's a collective effort, and in order for art to be meaningful, we need to have healthy conversations about it."

In 2022, Ai-Da attended the event of the British House of Lords. Picture source: Ai-Da official website

Her sponsor Aidan Meller believes that Ai-Da It can also be regarded as a moral project, reminding people not to just pay attention to the remarks of a few big technology company executives, but also to listen to the voices of ordinary people.

While appreciating technology, we should also be alert to the people behind the technology and think about how the technology works and what it can bring us.

He does not believe that AI will replace people, just like people in the 19th century were afraid of cameras. Some say the camera will surely lead to the end of art. Why bother painting landscapes when you can take photos?

"Of course that's not happening, I think all these amazing creative technologies will be utilized by artists, not replace them."

Artificial intelligence is just a means to assist humans. , rather than the target.

In addition, he emphasized that examples like Ai-Da are showing us the heights that artificial intelligence can already reach. People need to redefine the focus of human attention. It should not be work or productivity needs, but passion, imagination, empathy, interpersonal relationships, etc.

PS. If we don’t engage in art, when will robots enter human society, and what impact will they have on our lives?