By Joe Aura, aurajoe6@gmail.com
In an unprecedented moment that has sparked a global conversation on the intersection of technology and art, a portrait by Ai-Da, the world’s first ultra-realistic robot artist, sold for an astonishing US$1.32 million at Sotheby’s Digital Art Sale in London.
The final bid far exceeded the presale estimate of US$180,000, making the 7.5-foot-tall portrait, titled A.I. God, a landmark achievement in the evolving landscape of contemporary art.
Ai-Da is no ordinary artist. Named after Ada Lovelace, the 19th-century mathematician and pioneer of computer programming, Ai-Da represents a fusion of engineering, artificial intelligence, and creativity. Developed by Aidan Meller, Ai-Da was conceived to challenge the boundaries between human and machine-generated art and provoke discussions about the role of AI in society. “We are at the tipping point of transitioning from a human-centric world, where people make all the decisions, to a post-human world led increasingly by algorithms,” Meller explained. “Highlighting this shift with a piece like A.I. God captures the significance of this moment.”
The artwork itself is a multi-layered, impressionistic portrait of Alan Turing, the British mathematician known as the father of modern computing and a pioneer of artificial intelligence. Ai-Da’s creative process involved painting several small portraits of Turing, which were later combined and scaled up to a large canvas. Studio assistants contributed to the initial stages by adding paint and texture, before Ai-Da herself added final brushstrokes to enhance the piece’s layered, fractured appearance.
“My artwork is a tribute to Turing’s legacy,” Ai-Da remarked during an October preview. “The portrait’s fragmented and multifaceted composition reflects the complexity of our contemporary world.”
The sale has ignited a debate over what qualifies as “art” in an age where machines can create works that rival those of humans. Some experts, such as Professor Sandra Wachter from the Oxford Internet Institute, question whether machine-generated art can hold the same cultural value as human-made pieces. “I personally wouldn’t want to see us prioritizing machine stories over human ones,” Wachter said. “There’s a magic in human storytelling that risks being diminished to the push of a button.”
Despite these concerns, Ai-Da’s achievement marks a pivotal moment in the Fourth Industrial Revolution, underscoring the growing influence of artificial intelligence in creative industries. Whether AI-generated works will resonate with art enthusiasts long-term remains uncertain, but for now, A.I. God stands as a testament to the possibilities at the frontier of art and technology—a realm where even robots can wield a brush and spark awe.
In Kenya and across Africa, AI art is also making strides as artists and creators use AI tools to enhance their work, particularly in marketing and advertising campaigns. Many African creatives leverage AI to generate visual ideas and structure written content, integrating these tools as part of their process. This approach allows for a blend of human intuition with AI’s vast capabilities, fostering a dynamic, collaborative form of art. While I, like many others, use AI to prompt visual concepts and structure articles, it serves solely as a tool—amplifying human creativity without replacing its essence.