Ai-Da: Robot or Rembrandt

Ai-Da is the world's first-ever robot artist. She can draw, paint, create 3D designs, sculpt ... as well as hold discussions about the impact of new technologies. MASTERS spoke with gallery director Aidan Meller, the spiritual creator of Ai-Da, who is named after Ada Lovelace, the first computer programmer ever. "Ai-Da is more than a robot, it's an ethical art project that explores the issues that affect us today."

Text: Bart-Jan Brouwer

What moved you to start making a robot?

"To try to understand the changing world we live in now. That it became a robot with an artistic talent is because I am an art connoisseur and have run a gallery for 20 years. The greatest artists have always questioned the times in which they lived. Where is it going? They became super famous not because they did great work in their ivory towers, but because they expressed through their art what was going on under the surface in society. We are currently living in a time when technology has a great impact on all aspects of life on earth. That is why, with the help of the Machine Learning Department at Oxford University, I began to study AI. The more I read about it, the more I realized that people are concerned about this technology, the way it can manipulate. One day my son was building something with LEGO. "Look Daddy, I made a robot!" he shouted proudly. It was an absolute flash of a moment. My head snapped up. As I looked at this little robot, with all these thoughts in the back of my mind, I wondered: is it possible to create a robot that creates artwork that comments on and criticizes the rise of AI and technology in today's society? When I shared that idea with others, I was told: crazy idea, impossible. But was it really such a crazy idea? I felt challenged and went with it: building a robot that could create art. And Ai-Da is more than a robot, it's an ethical art project that explores the issues that affect us today."

What were the biggest challenges in that process?

"I had to bring in a robot company, bring in a good number of AI programmers, the costs were skyrocketing... There were lots of challenges. But the most important thing was to first understand what creativity is. The word is used all over the place, but there are lots of definitions. In ancient Greece, for example, creativity was a divine gift from the daughters of Mnemosyne and Zeus. Those who were touched could perform remarkable feats - creativity as divine madness. A more contemporary definition, on which we could build, is that of cognitive scientist Margaret A. Boden: something new, surprising and valuable. She argues that creativity is the ability to come up with things that were not possible earlier in history because of the prevailing rules of the game. We are about to enter a new era, with new rules: posthumanism. In it, technological and scientific progress is so advanced that it cannot be followed and understood by contemporary people. It is already happening. Just look at navigation in cars: we blindly trust it. This is about to happen in every area of technology. We are getting to a point where technology is better than humanity, where we let algorithms and machines guide us. Ai-Da is at the beginning of this development. This raises many questions: who or what is Ai-Da? Her existence is somehow "wrong," and we are aware of that: she disrupts. We are also not here to promote robots, but to ask questions."

Why did Ai-Da take on a human appearance?

"Because people relate to people. That lowers the barrier to connection. And we chose female looks because women are still underrepresented in art, and certainly in technology."

In what has Ai-Da surprised you the most?

"The biggest surprise of the whole project is the realization of how robotic humans are. Only since I started working with Ai-Da's algorithms have I realized that they are largely similar to our own. Humans are very predictable. Creating a robot has helped me understand humans better."

You trained her. Does that make Ai-Da an extension of you?

"I don't paint, I don't tell her what to make... Yes, I put her together. But no, I am in no way involved in the art she makes. She does that using cameras in her eyes, AI algorithms and a robotic arm. The art she makes could have been people's too, the big difference is that she has no consciousness."

Although she is a machine, perhaps you see something of a character in Ai-Da?

"The persona of Ai-Da is super interesting. How can we understand it? We did a show at the Design Museum in 2021 in which Ai-Da made a self-portrait using a mirror. But how to make a self-portrait if there is no self? What does that mean for identity in the digital age? Which brings us back to the question: who or what is Ai-Da? You can answer: the person behind the creation, the programmer, the program itself... But none of those answers is right. What is the right answer? That's a tough one. Ai-Da is a foreshadowing of the question we will one day have to ask ourselves: who are we?"

Can works of art produced by machines be called "art"?

"We consider her work contemporary art because it provokes discussion about our society and future, which is an important role of contemporary art. Ai-Da raises questions about the nature of creativity and art, the nature of AI, the data that drive algorithms and to what extent that data is biased. She forces us to think about the interface between humans and machines. She also interferes in the debate herself and then can be quite controversial. People love her or hate her. No one says "yeah, she's okay," no one is in the middle. Before the entry of ChatGPT, people thought it was pure magic, but now they understand that machines can talk."

Are people afraid of her, too?

"Very scared ... Mrs. Terminator! That's how some people look at her. This is the beginning of the end, you can hear people say. Wherever we go, we have to shield her. In the beginning, we allowed people to approach Ai-Da, but that's no longer possible. They want to touch her, feel if she is real, see how she reacts... How scared people can be of her was evident when I went to Egypt with her to exhibit a large statue next to the pyramids. When we arrived at the airport, Ai-Da was detained on suspicion of espionage - despite being invited by the government. Customs was probably alarmed by the cameras in her eyes. For ten days she was detained. We had to call in the British ambassador to get her released. It was very scary."

Ai-Da gave a speech at the House of Lords in 2022 on the impact of AI on the creative industries. How does a robot prepare for it?

"She also has a powerful AI language model that allows her to converse with people. Since we knew the speech would be seen by millions of people, we asked some questions beforehand as a kind of training. It was, of course, exceptional: a robot speaking in the House of Lords! That had not happened before. Last July, she also gave a speech at the United Nations' AI for Good Global Summit in Switzerland, in front of professors, thinkers such as Yuval Noah Harari and delegates from Microsoft, Amazon and the world's leading robotics companies, among others. Other robots also attended the summit, including a nursing assistant robot, a food delivery robot, a recycling robot, a rock star robot, a Raclette-making robot, a therapeutic robot ... It was extremely interesting to meet the "family of Ai-Da. From the outside they look broadly the same, but in their capabilities they are very different. I am proud that with Ai-Da we have the most creative robot in the world."

MASTERS MEMBERSHIP

This article was taken from MASTERS Magazine. Want to be the first to get the latest edition? Order your membership here. With 4 high-profile MASTERS editions, the annual LXRY LIST and many more extras, you will easily receive lots of reading pleasure at home: substantive reports, great photography and unique brands, trends and places in the world. Give it to yourself or a loved one as a gift.