Ai-Da

In 2019, Ai-Da was conceived by gallerist Aidan Meller as an AI art generator embodied as a life-like humanoid robot. The hardware was built in collaboration with Engineered Arts, a Cornish robotics company.[4] The graphics algorithms allowing her to draw were developed by computer AI researchers at the University of Oxford,[5] and her drawing arm was developed by Salaheldin Al Abd and Ziad Abass, students from the School of Electronic and Electrical Engineering at the University of Leeds.[4][6] In April 2022, Ai-Da was equipped with a new arm that enabled it to paint using a palette, first shown at the British Library in London.[2]

Ai-Da can be displayed in either a standing or seated position; although she has legs, she cannot walk.[7] A pair of cameras in the robot's eyes allow the robot to both make eye contact and, in conjunction with a computer vision algorithm and a modified robotic arm, create sketches of the robot's surroundings.[8] One of Ai-Da's developers described the resultant sketches as "fragmented" and "abstracted, unsettling and splintered in style."[9]

Paintings attributed to Ai-Da were previously created by human artists based off the robot's sketches,[10] however she has since been equipped with hardware and software capable of creating paintings autonomously.[2][9]

Ai-Da has been exhibited alongside sculptures,[11] however the robot's involvement in sculpture creation is minimal: pencil sketches created by Ai-Da are turned into sculptures by an uncredited artist, then 3D printed and cast in bronze.[10]

In addition to art generation, Ai-Da can use "speech pattern analysis, plus an internal data bank of words" to generate poetry,[12] as well as respond to questions (when submitted to her developers in advance) using a language model.[13]

Using Professor Margaret Boden's definition of creativity, namely making art that was new, surprising and of value, Ai-Da was able to "creatively" devise drawings using AI and computer graphics algorithms for drawing and painting. Algorithms for collaborative sculpture were subsequently added.[14][8][12]

Aidan Meller presented outputs from Ai-Da at a solo show called Ai-Da: Portrait of a Robot at the Design Museum in London, including "self-portraits", an apparent paradox given a robot has no "self". This raised questions about identity in the digital age, and the effects artificial intelligence may have on art in the future.[14][15] She was also the first humanoid to devise a font, displayed at the Design Museum.[16]

In October 2022, Ai-Da became the first humanoid robot to give evidence at The House of Lords, Palace of Westminster, as part of its A Creative Future inquiry, examining potential challenges for the creative industries and looking at how they can adapt as technology advances. Much press coverage ensued, because Aidan Meller stated that creativity does not need to be conscious, and because the robot inadvertently shut down during the session.[13]

In May 2019, Ai-Da executed a live performance called Privacy at St Hugh's College, Oxford. This work was a homage to Yoko Ono's seminal work Cut Piece.[17]

In June 2019, art generated by Ai-Da was featured in a gallery show called Unsecured Futures at St John's College, University of Oxford.[18]

In June 2019, Ai-Da featured at the Barbican Centre, London, in WIRED Pulse: AI.[19]

In September 2019, the Ars Electronica, Linz, Austria: European ARTificial Intelligence Lab exhibition entitled Out of the Box: The Midlife Crisis of the Digital Revolution invited a performance from Ai-Da.[20]

In October 2019, the artist Sadie Clayton worked with Ai-Da on a series of workshops at Tate Exchange, Tate Modern, London – Exploring Identity Through Technology – hosted by A Vibe Called Tech.[21][22]

In November, 2019, Ai-Da was displayed at Abu Dhabi Art in Manarat Al Saadiyat, UAE.[23]

In December 2019, Ai-Da had her first "interview" with Tim Marlow, the artistic director at the Royal Academy, at the Sarabande (Alexander McQueen Foundation), London, Inspiration Series.[24]

In February 2020, Ai-Da was used to present a TEDx talk in Oxford called The Intersection of Art and AI.[25]

In July 2020, Ai-Da featured in The 1975's music video for their song "Yeah I Know", from their album Notes on a Conditional Form. In the video, Ai-Da appears drawing a representation of human consciousness and generating a poem in response to the song's lyrics.[26] The album went to No.1 in the USA charts.[27]

In October 2020, Ai-Da was featured by the United Nations in a virtual exhibition launched by The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) launched "WIPO: AI and IP, A Virtual Experience."[28]

In May 2021, Ai-Da was installed at Porthmeor Studios, St Ives. Located in Studio 5, Ai-Da generated art in response to the work of Ben Nicholson's, who worked in the same space during the 1930s and 1940s.[29]

In May 2021, "self-portraits" of Ai-Da were displayed in Ai-Da: Portrait of the Robot at the Design Museum, London.[1]

In September 2021, Ai-Da exhibited her first Metaverse works at the Victoria and Albert Museum during the London Design Festival.[30][31]

In October 2021, while entering Egypt for an exhibition at the Great Pyramid of Giza, Ai-Da was held for ten days by border guards who "feared her robotics may have been hiding covert spy tools".[32] The artwork was part of the contemporary art exhibition to be held for the first time at the Pyramids in 4500 years.[32]

In October 2021, artworks and poetry generated by Ai-Da were featured as part of a group show called "Dante: the invention of Celebrity" at the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford.[2][3][8]

On 22 April 2022, an exhibition titled "Leaping into the Metaverse" featuring Ai-Da launched during the 59th Venice Biennale.[2]

In May 2022, Algorithm Queen, a painting generated by Ai-Da which depicts Queen Elizabeth II, was unveiled to mark her platinum jubilee.[33]

In June 2022, Ai-Da was invited to be an "artist in residence" at Glastonbury Festival, in the ShangriLa Field, along with Chinese dissident artist Ai WeiWei. Ai-Da painted the headliners Billie Eilish, Kendrick Lamar, Sir Paul McCartney, and Diana Ross while interacting with the crowds in her studio.[34]

In September 2022, Ai-Da was featured in an exhibition called "Imagining AI" by the Bodleian Library, University of Oxford, the Cheney School, the Rumble Museum, Open Doors and the University of Oxford Maths Department. The series highlighted the ever-changing and rapid growth of artificial intelligence. Attendees could see Ai-Da in a "live" Q&A and art session.[35]

In October 2022 Ai-Da was shown at The Louvre Abu Dhabi, and later was used to present a Keynote Talk at The Cultural Summit, Abu Dhabi with Tim Marlow, chief executive and director of the Design Museum in London, which is organised by the Abu Dhabi Department of Culture and Tourism.[36]

In November 2022, Ai-Da became the first robot to speak at the Oxford Union debating society.[37]

In November 2022, Ai-Da was featured as a "guest of honour speaker" at the Wadi Ashar Dialogue in AlUla, Saudi Arabia.[38]

• Digital art
• Robotic art

• Official website
• Engineered Arts