An AFP report showcased one of the most unique attractions in this year’s Venice Biennale, a remarkable piece that challenges traditional human artwork, for the first time robotics have entered mainstream art festivals with Aida the world’s first ultra realistic artistic robot. A painting made by this humanoid robot fetched more than 1 million at an auction at Sotheby’s. The sale exceeded pre-sale expectations of 180,000 for its 7.5 feet tall painting named “AI God”of English mathematician Alan Turing, one of the fathers of the modern day computer.
This robot is one of the most advanced in the world and sports bionic hands and a female face with a bob. Developed by a team led by Aidan Meller in 2019, Ai-Da uses a robotic arm with a pencil to draw paintings and mould sculptures and can generate artwork based on her understanding of the world through AI algorithms. The painting ‘AI God’ was first showcased at the United Nations in May 2024.
Ai-Da has been exhibited at several art galleries across the world and even at the Pyramids of Giza, showcasing her drawings, paintings, and digital artwork, raising questions about the relationship between machines, creativity, and the human touch in art.
Before commencing its artwork, Ai-Da discusses with its developers what it would like to paint. “In this instance, we had a discussion with her about ‘A.I. for good’ which led to Ai-Da bringing up Alan Turing as a key person in the history of A.I. that she wanted to paint,” said Meller in a statement.
Ai-Da Robot uses a highly developed AI language model to speak, said ‘AI God,’ a painting of pioneer Alan Turing, invites observers to contemplate the god-like essence of AI and computing while considering the ethical and societal implications of these advancements. Alan Turing recognised this potential that stares at us as we race towards this future,”.
In 2022 Aida created portraits of artists like Diana Ross, Billie Eilish and Sir Paul McCartney who were headlining Glastonbury Festival. That very year Ai Da went on to paint a portrait of Queen Elizabeth to celebrate the upcoming Platinum Jubilee and became the first robot to give evidence ahead of a parliamentary committee discussing the impact of technology on creative fields.
Aiden Weller the founder of Ai-da speaking at the Venice Biennale said that they are heading towards a post-human world. At the moment all humans are making decisions about all aspects of life but are increasingly migrating to algorithms to make those decisions. “It challenges what it is to be human, it’s bigger than just the art question,” said Meller and added “I think Ai-Da is a foreshadowing of where a human could go … so (she) is very unsettling by her very existence but she’s only symptomatic of what’s happening, she’s not doing it, she’s just a symbol of it.”
