The Work of Art in the Age of Artificial Intelligence

AI has become so ubiquitous that it’s even shaking up the art world, with auction houses selling AI-generated work for record sums. Creativity could be in crisis.

Words: Caroline Christie
Illustration: Sebatian König

When the hammer finally went down, Edmond de Belamy, from La Famille de Belamy sold for $432,500, nearly 45 times its original estimate. The first AI-generated artwork ever auctioned at Christie’s — signed with the mathematical formula that helped create it — signalled a new era of creativity, in which AI and art could blur the boundaries of authorship in bewildering new ways.

After the sale made headlines around the world, grievances over who should be credited, and potentially compensated for the work, began to emerge. Simultaneously, it raised questions about how we define and protect the very essence of creativity, and whether the current legal framework can keep up with innovation.

Though AI-generated, Edmond de Belamy was conceived by Hugo Caselles- Dupré, Pierre Fautrel, and Gauthier Vernier — a trio of 25-year-old artists who make up Parisian collective Obvious…