Augmented Intelligence: Christie’s AI Art Sale Fuels Debate and Revenues

By Elizabeth Gillett

Charles Csuri (1922-2022), BsplineMen, 1966, ink on paper, IMB 7094, and Calcomp drum plotter, 78.4 x 146.4 cm.

Image courtesy of Christie’s.

The fifth of March marked the end of Christie’s first major sale of AI-generated artwork, entitled Augmented Intelligence. Exhibited at Rockefeller Centre in New York throughout the sale period, the 34 works, six which were the product of collaborations, were part of a 14-day online-only sale (20 February-5 March), in which 82% of lots sold.

The announcement of the sale in early 2025 sparked intense debate regarding the ethics and legality of AI art, prompting an open letter (which boasted almost 6,500 signatures) calling for Christie’s to cancel the sale. As AI platforms often utilise copyrighted art as a model for producing new work, which concept artist Reid Southen claims applies to about 1/3 of lots in the sale, the letter argued AI platforms, and thereby the art produced from them, exploit human artists. Christie’s Vice President and Director of Digital Art Sales, Nicole Sales Giles, remarked that although she could not comment on the copyright disputes, Augmented Intelligence is intended to illustrate that ‘AI is not a replacement for human creativity’, but rather a tool to enhance artistic innovation.

Bringing in $728,784 (with fees), well above Christie’s original estimate of $600,000 (without fees), the unique nature of the sale attracted a new subset of collectors, with 48% of bidders identifying as Millennial or Gen Z and 37% first-time buyers at Christie’s. Featuring 40 artists, some of whom have exhibited at MoMA, the Whitney, Tate Modern, and the V&A, the sale presented a diversity of mediums, ranging from video art and NFTs to sculpture and works on paper.

The oldest lot, Charles Csuri’s (1922-2022) Bspline Men, 1966, is an ink on paper work created using an IMB 7094 (a type of mainframe computer) and a Calcomp drum plotter. Csuri, a trailblazer in the development of AI-generated art, is regarded as the first artist to introduce figurative images into generative geometric art. Part of a series, in which Csuri utilises mathematical functions to explore the depiction of a bearded man and the tension between absurdity and logic, Bspline Men experiments with curvature in relation to the figure using a B-spline. Although historically significant and one of few unique lots in the sale, the work hammered for below its estimate ($55,000-$65,000) at $50,400.  

Scott Eaton (b. 1973), Human Allocation of Space, 2019, bronze sculpture on base, 50 x 75 x 25 cm.

Image courtesy of Christie’s.

Scott Eaton’s bronze sculpture Human Allocation of Space, 2019, (est. $8,000-$12,000; realised $16,380) is the first work in a series which examines the translation of one medium to another through a custom ‘shape’ neural network. Providing the model with his own gestural sketches, the neural network, trained by the artist himself, then outputs sculptural forms.

Refik Anadol (b. 1985), Machine Hallucinations – ISS Dreams – A, 2021, video, AI driven data painting, custom software, 141 x 241.3 x 15.24 cm.  

Image courtesy of Christie’s.

Machine Hallucinations – ISS Dreams – A is a 2021 video work by Turkish-American artist Refik Anadol. The highest grossing lot of the sale, hammering at $277,200 (est. $150,000-$200,000), the AP (part of a set of five works and two APs) utilises 1.2 million photographs by the International Space Station and generative adversarial networks to create a ‘surreal dreamscape’ in constant flux. Anadol, whose work has previously sold at Christie’s amongst the works of Bansky and Jeff Koons, is also currently undertaking a new venture, Dataland, the first museum dedicated to AI art, set to open in Los Angeles later this year.

Christie’s decision to proceed with the sale despite the backlash marks a turning-point in the legitimisation of artificial intelligence as a mode for artistic production. Moreover, the sale’s economic success indicates an acknowledgement amongst collectors of the artistic merit of works created by human artists in tandem with AI. However, as the large datasets AI models pull from often include copyrighted work, there remain complex questions concerning the ownership of AI art. Furthermore, the massive outcry by the art community against the use of AI contributes to the global debate regarding the impact of AI on intellectual property, job security, and its potential to spur innovation across industries.

Bibliography

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