A robot artist called Ai-Da will get its first major exhibition at Londons Design Museum this summer.
But is the humanoid truly creative?
Ai-Das works are based on photos taken by cameras in the droids eyes.
Algorithms then transform the images into a set of coordinates, which guide the robots drawing hand.
Ai-Das co-inventor, Aiden Meller, describes Ai-Das fragmented style as shattered.
We didnt want tight representational photographic images, even though we could have programmed it to do that.
We went against that because we realized that people would just think it was some kind of expensive photocopier.
But more than that, we wanted to show the expressiveness of the creativity in the algorithms.
However, not everyone is convinced that robots are capable of true creativity.
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Instead, it merely imitates art through algorithms developed by programmers.
Even if shes faced with the same image or same person, it would be a completely different outcome.
Theres a deliberate irony in an insentient gear with no sense of a self producing self-portraits.
Ai-Das appearance is another manifestation of this dynamic.
Named after programming pioneer Ada Lovelace, the robot has the appearance and voice of a female human being.
But it could also convince us theyre more real than they truly are and dehumanize us in the process.
Meller says Ai-Da was given a human appearance to make it more engageable.
Its really to raise that ethical question in a lot more detail.
Ai-Da is one of a growing number ofAI systems producing art.
Meller believes the tech could have a similar impact on creativity as the invention of the camera.
Many painters initially feared that the medium would wreck their careers.
But it soon pushed artists away from copying reality and towards exploring ideas that photography could not.
Ai-Das exhibition will run (COVID-19 restrictions permitting) in May and Juneat the Design Museum in London.
Story byThomas Macaulay
Thomas is the managing editor of TNW.
He leads our coverage of European tech and oversees our talented team of writers.
Away from work, he e(show all)Thomas is the managing editor of TNW.
He leads our coverage of European tech and oversees our talented team of writers.
Away from work, he enjoys playing chess (badly) and the guitar (even worse).
