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Christie’s announces AI art auction, and not everyone is pleased
Fine art auction house Christie’s has announced its first show dedicated solely to works created with artificial intelligence (AI), a move that has sparked mixed reactions. The exhibition, titled ‘Augmented Intelligence,’ will feature artwork from artists including Mat Dryhurst, the founder of AI startup Spawning AI.
The centerpiece of this event will be a robot that paints live at Christie’s Rockefeller Center galleries in New York, beginning February 20. However, many have taken to social media to express their disappointment and concerns regarding the auction.
One major criticism is that many generative AI tools for art were trained on artists’ works without their permission. Critics argue that such actions undermine the creative efforts of human artists who poured their hearts and souls into creating these masterpieces. By promoting AI-generated art alongside traditional, human-created pieces, Christie’s risks diminishing the value and originality of artistic labor.
The backlash has also focused on the lack of transparency regarding the training data used to create these AI-generated artworks. Many have pointed out that AI models were trained on artists’ works without their consent or compensation, raising questions about the ethical implications of this decision.
“Christie’s is elevating DALL-E, Midjourney & Stable Diffusion – all of which were trained on mountains of artists’ work without permission – without once mentioning the huge issues with this, or the sustained, loud protests from…,” tweeted Ed Newton-Rex, highlighting the controversy surrounding the AI art world.
Christie’s has yet to comment on these criticisms, but fans and detractors alike are eagerly awaiting their response.
Source: https://techcrunch.com/2025/02/08/christies-announces-ai-art-auction-and-not-everyone-is-pleased/
