Ai-Da

Ai-Da was invented by gallerist Aidan Meller, in collaboration with Engineered Arts, a Cornish robotics company.[4] The graphics algorithms allowing it to draw sketches from a photograph captured by its cameras were developed by computer AI researchers at the University of Oxford,[5] and its drawing arm was developed by Salaheldin Al Abd and Ziad Abass, undergraduate 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 painting arm, that enabled it to paint using a palette, at the British Library in London.[2]

From conception in 2019, Ai-Da was the first robot art system to be embodied as a life-like humanoid robot.

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 graphics algorithms for drawing and painting. Algorithms for collaborative sculpture were subsequently added.[7][8][9]

Aidan Meller presented outputs from Ai-Da at a solo show called Ai-Da: Portrait of a Robot at the Design Museum in London, includingself-portraits, an apparent paradox given a robot has no self. This raised questions about identity in the digital age, and the role of our digital double as we engage with technology,[7][10]. Ai-Da was the first humanoid robot used to design a font at the Design Museum.[11]

In October 2021, Ai-Da was invited to exhibit a sculpture at the Forever is Now exhibition at the Giza Pyramids. This is the first time art has had access to the plateau of the Pyramids' history.[12][13]

Ai-Da was also the first robot-embodied art system used to paint Queen Elizabeth II for her Platinum Jubilee.[14]

In November 2021, Ai-Da used an embedded language model to generate and then recite poetry at the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford. There were two public performances, as part of the Dante: the invention of Celebrity at the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford.[9]

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.[15]

In June 2019, artworks generated by Ai-Da were featured in a gallery show called Unsecured Features at St John's College, Oxford.[16]

In June 2019, Ai-Da featured at the Barbican Centre, London, in WIRED Pulse: AI.[17]

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.[18]

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.[19][20]

In November, 2019, Ai-Da was invited to perform in a series of workshops at Abu Dhabi Art in Manarat Al Saadiyat, UAE.[21]

In December 2019, Tim Marlow, the Artistic Director at the Royal Academy, at the Sarabande (Alexander McQueen Foundation), London, Inspiration Series.[22] carried out an interview with Ai-Da.

In February 2020, Ai-Da was used to present a TEDx talk in Oxford called The Intersection of Art and AI.[23]

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 from a prompt to portraay human consciousness and composing a poem in response to the song lyrics.[24]

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."[25]

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 had worked in the same space during the 1930s and 1940s.[26]

In May 2021, a display of Ai-Da Self Portraits with no self, Ai-Da: Portrait of the Robot was presented at the Design Museum, London.[1]

In September 2021, Ai-Da generated Metaverse works were exhibited at the Victoria and Albert Museum during the London Design Festival.[27][28]

In October 2021, while being imported into 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".[29] The artwork was due to be part of the contemporary art exhibition to be held for the first time at the Pyramids.[29] The artwork was due to be part of the contemporary art exhibition to be held for the first time at the Pyramids in 4500 years.[29]

In October 2021, Ai-Da artworks were exhibited as part of a group show called "Dante: the invention of Celebrity" at the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford. The installed language model was used to write and then recite poetry.[2][3][8]

On 22 April 2022, a solo exhibition of Ai-Da generated work titled "Leaping into the Metaverse" was scheduled for the 59th Venice Biennale.[2]

In May 2022, Ai-Da's work Algorithm Queen, which depicts Queen Elizabeth II, was unveiled to mark her platinum jubilee.[30]

In June 2022, Ai-Da was installed at the Glastonbury Festival, in the ShangriLa Field, along with Chinese dissident artist Ai WeiWei. Ai-Da generated paintings of the headliners Billie Eilish, Kendrick Lamar, Sir Paul McCartney, and Diana Ross while interacting with the crowds.[31]

• Digital art
• Robotic art

• Official website
• Engineered Arts