Christie's AI Art Auction Success: Exceeds Expectations

Christie’s AI Art Show Proceeds Despite Artist Protest

An open letter signed by close to 6,500 artists called for the cancellation of Christie’s inaugural exhibition exclusively showcasing AI-generated artwork. Despite this significant opposition, the exhibition, titled Augmented Intelligence, proceeded as planned and is reported to have been a commercial success.

Exhibition Results and Top Sales

Christie’s reported that the Augmented Intelligence show generated over $700,000 in sales. A considerable number of pieces sold for prices exceeding initial estimates.

The highest-selling artwork was “Machine Hallucinations — ISS Dreams — A” by Refik Anadol. This dynamic piece utilizes algorithms to reinterpret data collected from the International Space Station and various satellites, ultimately realizing a sale price of $277,200.

Christie’s Response

Nicole Sales Giles, Vice President and Director of Digital Art Sales at Christie’s, communicated to Artnet that the show’s positive reception “confirmed” collector acknowledgement of “creative voices pushing the boundaries of art.”

Artist Concerns Regarding Copyright

However, a substantial number of artists remain unconvinced.

The open letter detailed accusations against Christie’s for exhibiting artwork generated by AI models. These models are alleged to have been trained on copyrighted material without proper licensing.

The artists contend that this practice exploits human artists by leveraging their work without authorization to develop competing products.

Specifically, the letter argues that the use of copyrighted work to train these AI models constitutes a violation of artists’ rights.

The core issue revolves around the unauthorized utilization of existing artwork to create new pieces through artificial intelligence.