Alan Turing’s AI artwork sells for $1 million at auction

A painting created by an AI robot of renowned World War Two codebreaker Alan Turing has sold at auction for $1,084,800 (£836,667).

Sotheby’s said there were 27 bids for the digital art sale of “AI God”, which was originally estimated to sell for between $120,000 (£9,252) and $180,000 (£139,000).

Mathematician Turing was a pioneer of computer science and known as the father of artificial intelligence (AI).

The auction house said the historic sale “marks the beginning of a new frontier in the global art market, setting an auction benchmark for artwork by a humanoid robot”.

It states that Ai-Da Robot’s work is “the first humanoid robot artist whose artwork has been sold at auction.”

The work is a large-scale original portrait of Turing, who studied at King’s College, Cambridge.

The scientist played a key role in the Allies’ victory over Nazi Germany in World War II by helping to crack the code and decipher the infamous Enigma machine at Bletchley Park.

After the war he prepared a detailed design for a digital computer in the modern sense.

The online sale, which ended at 19:00 GMT on Thursday, was purchased by an unidentified buyer at a price “far in excess of the artwork’s estimated value”, Sotheby’s said.

The auction house said the sale price of the artist’s first artwork by a humanoid robot “marks a moment in the history of modern and contemporary art and reflects the growing interconnection between AI technology and the global art market”.

The AI-Da robot, which uses advanced AI language models to speak, said: “The main value of my work is its ability to serve as a catalyst for conversations about emerging technologies.”

Robot said, “The work invites viewers to contemplate the divine nature of AI and computing while considering the ethical and social implications of these advancements.”

“Alan Turing recognized this potential, and it’s staring us in the face as we race toward this future.”

Aidan Mellor, Director of Ai-Da Robot Studio, said: “This auction marks an important moment for the visual arts, with Ai-Da’s artwork drawing attention to the art world and societal changes as we grapple with the growing age of AI. Are.

“Artifact raises questions about ‘AI God’ agency, as AI gains more power.”

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The sale price was initially given at $1.3 million, but this was later corrected by the auctioneer.