Christie’s to hold its first ever auction dedicated exclusively to AI-generated art

Initial announcement and scope: Christie’s is breaking new ground with its first-ever auction dedicated exclusively to AI-generated art, featuring works spanning five decades.

• The “Augmented Intelligence” sale will run from February 20 to March 5, 2025
• The auction includes over 20 lots from both pioneering and contemporary AI artists
• Only 26% of the works are digital pieces like NFTs, with the majority being physical artworks including sculptures, paintings, and prints
• Christie’s projects the sale will generate at least $600,000

Notable artists and works: The auction showcases pieces from established AI art innovators and includes several groundbreaking interactive elements.

• A 12-foot-tall painting robot by Alexander Reben will create art in real-time at Christie’s Rockefeller Center, responding to online bids
• Van Arman’s “Emerging Faces” (2017) demonstrates the interplay between two AI systems: one creating human faces while another halts the process upon face recognition
• Holly Herndon and Mat Dryhurst’s “Embedding Study” works, featured in the 2024 Whitney Biennial, are expected to sell for $70,000-$90,000

Technical innovations: The auction highlights various AI art techniques and technologies that showcase the evolution of the field.

• Neural networks, a type of AI that learns from data patterns, are featured in several works including Van Arman’s abstract portraits
• Text-to-image AI models were used to create Herndon and Dryhurst’s spacesuit character variations
• The majority of lots (93%) will accept cryptocurrency as payment

Market context: Recent developments suggest growing acceptance of AI art in traditional art markets.

• This auction represents the first dedicated AI art sale by a major auction house
• Sotheby’s recent sale of an AI-created painting by humanoid robot Ai-Da for over $1 million indicates strong market interest
• The diverse format of works, from digital to physical pieces, shows how AI art is transcending purely digital spaces

Future implications: Christie’s pioneering sale could establish AI art as a legitimate category in the fine art market, while raising questions about creativity, authorship, and the evolving relationship between human artists and artificial intelligence.