Auctioned in London: Robot woman creates million-dollar artwork

London – If Ai-Da were human, she would probably have taken care of herself financially. But the woman with the cheeky pageboy hairstyle is an artificial being who creates works of art. Her portrait of the legendary mathematician Alan Turing (1912-1954) was auctioned at the London auction house Sotheby’s for 1,080,000 million US dollars (around 1,000,000 euros).

It was the first time that the painting of an AI robot was auctioned. The 2.2 meter tall Turing portrait is called “AI-God”. The proceeds at Thursday’s auction exceeded all expectations.

Auction house expected 160,000 euros

The Auction house had previously only expected revenue of a good 160,000 euros. The jubilation was correspondingly great. “Today’s record price for the first work of art by a humanoid robot artist” reflects “the growing intersection between KI-Technologie and the global art market,” said Sotheby’s.

Robot woman Ai-Da is powered by AI, has cameras in her eyes and her bionic hands. It was named after Ada Lovelace, the world’s first computer programmer. Ai-Da was developed by Aidan Meller, a modern and contemporary specialist Art.

Convicted of “gross fornication”

The robo-artist said about her artwork: Turing’s portrait invites viewers to “think about the godlike nature of AI and… computers while considering the ethical and social implications of these advances.”

The portrayed Alan Turing is considered one of the founding fathers of modern computer technology. During World War II, Turing worked for the British intelligencewhere he played a key role in deciphering the German Enigma codes. In the 1950s he was already concerned about the future development of artificial intelligence. Turing was homosexualwhat in Great Britain was punishable in the 1950s. In 1952 he was convicted of “gross fornication” and had to undergo chemical castration.

The Turing Award named after him has been awarded every year since 1966 Nobel Prize of computer science. Turing was officially rehabilitated in 2013. Robot woman Ai-Da now created an artistic monument to him.