The creator of the first ultra-realistic robot artist said that working with a robot spoke “many questions about the relationship we have with ourselves”.
The artificial intelligence robot (AI) AI-Da was designed in Oxford by Aidan Meller, specialist in modern and contemporary art, and built in the United Kingdom by engineering arts.
It was specially designed as a humanoid to be able to make art and has recently unveiled a portrait of King Charles III.
Mr. Meller said that AI-DA and his works “allow you to unravel some of the greatest concerns and thoughts of our time”.
Ai-Da has cameras in her eyes, whom she uses to take pictures.
Then, thanks to the AI algorithms, she is able to question the image that passes through her arm to be converted into coordinates in real time – which allows her to hold a brush to paint and draw.
“You can meet her, you can talk to her using her language model and she is then able to paint you and draw you from sight,” said Meller.
“People have a lot of robots from the 1950s in their heads – reality is in fact, they are very engaging.
“It is only when you look at a robot in the eye and that they say your name that the reality of this new science fiction world in which we are currently taking place.”
AI-DA was invited to produce and present work in the United Nations AI for the Bon World Summit in Geneva, Switzerland.
In 2024, she made a triptych of mathematician in revolution enigma Alan Turing, who Was sold for more than 1 million sterling pounds during an auction.
This year, she turned her goal on King Charles III.
“With extraordinary progress that takes place in technology and once again, always questioning our relationship with the environment, we considered that King Charles was a very good subject,” said Meller.
He said that even if Ai-Da had not met the king, the palace of Buckingham had authorized permission so that the works of art were presented.
When asked how she chose her subjects, Mr. Meller said: “Strangely and rather fractured, we just ask her”.
“Ai-Da is connected to the Internet [and] She is able to talk about different people at length because she has a lot of data to put back.
“It is through these conversations that the work of art can then be done.”
AI-DA Also paint an image of King Charles’s mother, Queen Elizabeth II in 2023.
Mr. Meller said that the greatest achievement of the six years of work with AI-Da was “not so much about the way she is human, but in fact how robotic we are”.
“Working with a robot is many questions about the relationship we really have with ourselves,” he said.
“We hope that the works of art of AI-Da can be a provocation to have this discussion.”
