Ai-Da Robot Artist

Art always reflects the spirit of its time, so it is only natural that it is embracing new technologies. British engineers have created Ai-Da robot artist, whose paintings are admired even by the strictest of critics.

Using artificial intelligence and machine learning, Ai-Da can work in various genres of painting including drawing portraits from real life. The robot «sees» through the cameras acting as the pupils of its eyes. The device was named after Ada Lovelace, a mathematician who laid the foundations for computer programming.

Ai-Da can move and communicate with others perfectly mimicking human body language. The robot will be presented at the Unsecured Futures Exhibition opening in Oxford on June 12.

There is a perception that the arrival of robots in visual arts is a disastrous trend that would impede the development of human artists. But the organizers of the exhibition are of a different opinion comparing Ai-Da to photography: many believed that with the advent of photography, the art of painting would disappear, but the fact is that visual arts got enriched through photography acquiring new methods and techniques.