While Alabama residents are waxing lyrical about two three-foot-tall robots that were spotted repainting the lines at the three Thomas-Drew practice fields, the rest of the world can’t get enough of the exquisite artwork produced by other robots. Elsewhere in the world, robots are creating artwork that is selling for more than what the average American makes in a year. From Sophia and Ai-Da to the world of DALL-E 2 and beyond, here are just three of many artistic robots taking the world by storm with their creative ingenuity.
IMAGE CREDIT: https://unsplash.com/photos/0E_vhMVqL9g
.
Sophia is an NFT Goddess
There is a new NFT goddess in town and she’s not a human but an AI-powered humanoid robot. Sophia, who was modeled to resemble the Egyptian Queen Nefertiti, Audrey Hepburn, and the inventor’s wife, was first activated on Valentine’s Day in 2016. Known for her somewhat eerie humanlike appearance, Sophia’s architecture was upgraded in 2018 and now includes a chat system, scripting software, and an AI system specifically designed for reasoning known as OpenCog. She recently made headlines when one of the NFTs she created in collaboration with Italian digital artist Andrea Bonaceto, was sold for nearly $700,000. Sophia’s creator, David Hanson, is very impressed with this accomplishment and credits it to the fact that one piece of art is creating other works of art.
.
Ai-Da Impresses with Her Self-Portraits
As impressive as she may be, Sophia has some serious competition with another robot artist: Ai-Da. Created in February 2019, Ai-Da is the first ultra-realistic artist robot in the world. The brainchild of Aiden Meller, Ai-Da draws and paints using AI algorithms, her robotic arm, and the cameras situated in her eyes. Ai-Da had her first solo show entitled ‘Unsecured Features’ at Oxford University. Her first major show was at the Design Museum in London in 2021 followed by a solo exhibition earlier this year at the Concilio Europeo Dell’Arte in the Giardini during the Venice Biennale. Although she has dabbled in various painting styles, it is her self-portraits that often have the tongues wagging about identity and creativity.
.
Dall-E 2 and Beyond
Although not a ‘conventional’ robot like Sophia and Ai-Da, DALL-E 2 has taken the AI art world by storm in recent times. First launched in 2021, DALL-E 2 is an artificial intelligence system created by OpenAI that makes it possible for users to create striking works of art from textual input. DALL-E 2 has mastered the relationship between the text used to describe imagery and the actual images. It then makes use of a process known as diffusion to create an image that fits the text input. At present, it boasts more than 1.5 million users that generate in excess of 2 million images every single day.
Art created by robots continues to impress both art connoisseurs and the average Joe, and with good reason. Considering the rate at which AI is developing, the next ‘Mona Lisa’ or ‘The Starry Night’ might very well be painted by a super-skilled humanoid.
