AI has become a household term, with Collins Dictionary voting it the word of the year in 2023. ChatGPT became the fastest company ever to reach 1 million users, and Dall-e shocked the world by creating images within seconds that would have taken traditional artists days.
The traditional art world has typically been slow to adopt new technologies in the post-internet age, favoring physical art design mediums such as painting and sculpture, and preferring personal, relationship-driven art advisory. Yet, there’s a shift happening. More artists are incorporating AI into their creative processes, and collectors and dealers use AI tools to inform their art acquisitions.
So, is AI the future of the art and design world?
AI as an Art Medium
2021 saw the rise of NFTs, non-fungible tokens, with Beeple’s Everydays: The First 5,000 Days (2021) selling at Sotheby’s for an enormous $69.3 million, making it one of the most expensive artworks ever sold. Digital art began to enter the mainstream art world.
Christie’s and Sotheby’s launched a specific metaverse arm, and co-ownership platforms like Particle digitized Banksy’s iconic $13M ‘Love Is In The Air’ painting. Digital art encompasses several sub-genres, from video art, photography, pixel art, and generative art. As this medium continues to gain traction and exploration, AI art has become a recognized genre itself. Pioneering AI artists include the likes of Refik Anadol, Claire Silver, and Botto.
Refik Anadol is best known for MoMA’s acquisition of his ‘Unsupervised – Machine Hallucinations’ (2022). Anadol used AI and machine learning to visually translate MoMA’s collection data into visual abstract pixels. Three-dimensional waves mesmerized over X number of visitors while on display at New York’s largest contemporary art gallery in 2023.
The use of AI in art has not gone without criticism. The New York Times Art Critic Jerry Saltz notoriously referred to the work as a “lava lamp.” Other critics are embracing the medium, however. Hans Ulrich Obrist celebrates Anadol’s use of AI as “showing us that the future is invented with fragments from the past.”
Claire Silver, an early adopter of AI, uses the technology to create photo-realistic artworks. Silver refers to herself as an “AI collaborative artist,” emphasizing the role of the machine, yet in the parameters of human guidance. Silver’s process is extensive, using text-to-image AI, digital collage, and Photoshop. Her works have been sold at leading auction houses and acquired by LACMA, and she has partnered with Gucci and Christie’s New York.
Botto is a human-less AI artist who uses machine-learning algorithms based on hundreds of thousands of artworks across the internet to generate new creations. Botto, after some feedback from its community, uses AI to select the most successful artworks, curating exhibitions of just a dozen artworks. In this case, AI not only produces the artwork but also curates it. Botto’s artworks collectively sold for over $3 million in their first 2 years.
AI and the Art Market
One platform, LiveArt, uses AI to monitor and predict the demand and value of thousands of artists, both living and deceased. Presenting pricing information this way removes opacity: Just how much is a Picasso painting worth? Subsequently, more readily accessible art pricing data highlights the potential of art as an investment class. AI-driven art market data empowers collectors and artists alike to access a better understanding of the commercial element of the art world.
Hugo Barclay, Founder of ArtThou, an online art platform for ultra-contemporary art, and Director of the Affordable Art Fair, comments on the rise of AI and design: “As AI gains ground in the art market, its significance is clear. However, the journey towards widespread recognition of AI Art as an artistic genre parallels the gradual acceptance of other art forms such as photography and print-making.”
AI as the Future
Questions arise amidst the nascent relationship between AI and the art world. Will artist’s studio assistants be replaced with AI? Can AI help with artwork sourcing and trend forecasting? Will AI be used to provide written art criticism?
All artworks included in this article were created using AI.
