In 2018, an anonymous phone bidder purchased a portrait created by an Artificial Intelligence (AI) for a whopping $432,500 at a Christie’s fine art auction in New York City. The AI was created by Paris-based creative studio ‘Obvious’, and heavily based on open-source software designed by 19-year-old programmer Robbie Barrat. This watershed sale set the tone for a debate over AI-generated art that has raged ever since, as generative AIs reach new levels of sophistication.
