I watch as a dungaree-clad artist carefully and methodically puts pen to paper in the drawing room of a beautiful mansion in rural Oxfordshire. As her arm glides over the canvas, the marks slowly come together to form an abstract representation of her.
It appears to be an instance of artistic expression. However, Ai-Da is not your typical artist; she is the first humanoid robot artist in history. Her entire presence, by design, challenges our understanding of what constitutes art and who—or, in this case, what—can produce it.
Will AI algorithms and robots like Ai-Da spell the end of human creativity and artistry, or can they be harnessed to augment our own creative potential?
Art in flux
When Marcel Duchamp proposed that a porcelain urinal be considered art and submitted it for exhibition in early 20th-century New York, he flipped the art world on its head. He argued that anything could be considered art if chosen by the artist and labelled as such. It was a profoundly revolutionary thought that challenged previous notions of art as beautiful, technically skilled, and emotive.
