Painting a Bright Future for Artificial Intelligence in Art
Technology continues to evolve at an astounding rate and it seems that we are coming closer and closer to a society where it wouldn’t be so absurd to envisage ourselves living amongst robotic counterparts. It is easy to forget that there was ever a time where entertaining this idea was akin to a fantasy, reserved for sci-fi film and literature. While some people become excited by the prospects and potential of artificial intelligence and robotics, others scorn technology for its ‘contagion’ of traditional practice.
Aidan Meller is the gallery director and developer of a robot named ‘Ai-Da’, that exhibited earlier in the year at the University of Oxford as the first ultra realistic humanoid robot creating artworks with artificial intelligence. Ai-Da is able to produce art using AI algorithms. The robot uses cameras in its eyes to take real world images which is then translated into pen and pencil sketches. The sketches are then run through an AI algorithm that turns these into abstract works. The sketched are used to generate points that are plotted on a plane. The resulting image is then transferred to canvas before a human executes the actual painting.
Initial reference sketch by Ai-Da source: artsandcollections.com
While this is far from a robot independently creating work, Meller notes that: “We don’t know exactly how the drawings are going to turn out and that’s really important.”
With the evolution and integration of technology in our culture, it isn’t a surprise that technology has made its way into the fine art scene. Ai-da and ‘her’ artworks have been met with mixed responses. It is evident that many applaud the innovation behind the technology, exemplified by the show selling out for a collective total over one million pounds, while a few art ‘purists’ argue that this kind of technology degrades rich traditions and history.
Ai-Da’s abstract paintings source: dailyexpress.co.uk
Ai-Da unites the spheres of art, technology and design and while some could argue the standalone artworks are not ‘true’ art, it is hard to argue that there is an incredibly high level of creativity and innovation that comes with the design and creation of the life like robot itself. Simply viewing Ai-da as a work of art within itself, as what Meller calls: “the uses and abuses of A.I. today”, it seems obvious to credit the design, not only for a feat of technological and design engineering but also as a piece with artistic merit.
There is a very moving sensation of the ‘uncanny valley’, a feeling that surfaces to look at a ‘replica’ of the human gaze, unmoving and unalive yet familiar, carefully designed to mimic the soft features of a human face, juxtaposed to the exposed mechanical robotic arms. These features combined, it is easy to find a peculiar beauty in the design. Defining art as a tool to evoke emotion, Ai-Da surely achieves that.
Ai-Da source: wonderlandmagazine.com