“I depend on computer programs and algorithms. Although I’m not alive, I can still create art. That’s how Ai-Da recently addressed the UK Parliament’s Communications and Digital Committee, which was holding a session to discuss the role of technology in art. The first name of this presenter is inspired by the famous British mathematician Ada Lovelace, who lived in the 19th century and was the first computer programmer. Ai-Da, on the other hand, looks like a young woman sporting a black bob haircut and bangs, a humanoid face, and mechanized arms. Because Ai-Da is a surplus female robot and artist who relies on artificial intelligence (AI) to function. Created in 2019, this extraordinary artist has painted a series of diverse portraits ranging from Elizabeth II to Billie Eilish, and her works have been exhibited at the United Nations and the Venice Biennale. Ai-Da also composes poetry using an algorithm that processes and synthesizes existing poems to learn about various styles and topics. “What differentiates me from humans is consciousness: I don’t have subjective experiences, although I can talk about them,” the robot also told the committee.
Ai-Da at the Venice Biennale. Photo taken from ai-darobot official website
A mechanized finger-brush and an eye-camera
To paint, this otherworldly woman still relies on AI data through a camera instead of her eyes. Likewise, its mechanical arms include a finger-brush. During this unusual interview, she was accompanied by her creator Aidan Meller, contemporary art specialist and gallery owner, who explained himself to the committee alongside his robot. “Ai-Da is really a contemporary art project that looks at the nature of technology today. At the start of the session, the Chair of the Communications and Digital Committee Tina Stowell underlined: “The robot provides evidence, but it is not a witness in its own right and it does not occupy the same status as a human. Then, addressing Meller: “As a creator, you are responsible for what he says. And, it seems, how it works. During this session in the British Parliament, Ai-Da was indeed the victim of a small hitch and stalled. Its creator had to come to its rescue to restart it. He even made her wear glasses and jokingly said, “When you reprogram her, she can make some pretty interesting faces sometimes!” »
The robot woman Ai-Da in front of the English Parliament. Photo Eliott Franck, taken from the official ai-darobot website
Tribute to Egypt
This robot was born in 2019 from a collaboration between Aidan Meller and Engineered Arts, a robotics company based in Cornwall. The design of its artificial intelligence was developed by expert researchers in the field at the University of Oxford. Its arms fitted with an automation system were developed by Salaheddin el-Abd and Ziad Abass, two Egyptian undergraduate students from the School of Electronic Engineering at the University of Leeds. Three years later, in 2022, Ai-Da unveiled her talent at the British Library in London, with her new artist arm, brush finger and personal palette. Subsequently, she was the subject of several live performance sessions, and her works were acquired by private and official establishments.
Robot artist Ai-Da posing in front of one of his works. Photo taken from ai-darobot official website
“Ai-Da arrives much earlier than expected. It’s no exaggeration to say she’s going to be life-changing, Aidan Meller said in an interview with Sky News’ Gemma Peplow. Indeed, this technology is already making waves in the art world. Image generators can create stunning works of art based on inspirational texts, even copying the styles of famous artists. Recently, a play made with AI won first place in the Colorado State Fair digital art competition. Speaking to the British Parliament, Meller argued that “the role of technology in artistic creation will continue to grow, as artists find new ways to use it to express themselves, to think and to explore the relationship between technology, society and culture”. Female robot artist Ai-Da concluded, “After all, technology can be both a threat and an opportunity for artists. “A statement confirmed, in particular, by the British daily The Guardian in an article entitled “Some people feel threatened by the robot artist Ai-Da. ” The newspaper salutes on this occasion the country of the pharaohs, referring to the two Egyptian students who participated in the success of the female robot artist: “Egypt holds the high performance of the robot artist Ai-Da, as, before, the show pyramid history. “The Greeks believed that art and creativity came from the gods. The inspiration was divine inspiration. Today, the tendency is to think that art is created by humans, for other humans, specifies the online site Ai-Da. But we are gradually moving away from this concept with the interference of machines. And what we produce will not be entirely “us”. As for Ada Lovelace (1815-1852), the ancestor, so to speak, of the female robot artist Ai-Da, she is mainly known for having produced the first real computer program during her work on an ancestor computer: mathematician Charles Babbage’s analytical machine designed in 1847.
“I depend on computer programs and algorithms. Although I’m not alive, I can still create art. That’s how Ai-Da recently addressed the UK Parliament’s Communications and Digital Committee, which was holding a session to discuss the role of technology in art. The first name of this presenter is…