Christie's announced its first auction featuring art created by artificial intelligence, the first such event to focus solely on the controversial sub-category within the modern art world.
A letter demanding the auction house cancel the sale, which is scheduled to run Feb. 20 through March 5, has already received more than 3,160 signatures.
The auction house, which was founded in 1766 and has sold works by Pablo Picasso, Vincent van Gogh and the most expensive piece of art ever sold, “Salvator Mundi” by Leonardo Da Vinci, dubbed its auction “Augmented Intelligence” and said it would include “remarkable works” ranging from “early AI pioneers of the 1960s” to contemporary artists.
“AI technology is undoubtedly the future, and its connection to creativity will become increasingly important,” said Nicole Sales Giles, Christie’s director of digital art, in a statement.
Christie’s was also the first auction house to host a digital art (NFT) sale in Asia and has accepted crypto currency as payment on specific lots in the past.
AI art is a widely contentious topic within the art world. The letter demanding the cancellation of the Christie’s auction has been signed by artists, including Karla Ortiz and Kelly McKernan, who are currently suing over claims AI companies utilize their work without permission, according to the Guardian.
The letters reads: “We are writing to express serious concern over your upcoming auction of AI art at Christie’s.
"Many of the artworks you plan to auction were created using AI models that are known to be trained on copyrighted work without a license. These models, and the companies behind them, exploit human artists, using their work without permission or payment to build commercial AI products that compete with them.
"Your support of these models, and the people who use them, rewards and further incentivizes AI companies’ mass theft of human artists’ work. We ask that, if you have any respect for human artists, you cancel the auction.”
Will Stern is a reporter and editor for cllct.