Artists Protest First Ever AI Art Auction at Christie's

Over 20 lots will be up for bid from February 20th through March 5th and will include works from the likes of Refik Anado and Harold Cohen. The spread of mediums— sculptures, prints, light boxes, you name it— will range in price points, estimated up to $250,000. 

However, swaths of anger and disappointment amongst artists have been stirred up following the controversial announcement. A letter, with over 3,000 signatures, was written in protest of the auction, calling on Christie’s to cancel it altogether. 

This letter claims that the tools used to train the AI systems took artworks from actual artists as a model for the augmented pieces, without acquiring licensing or permissions first. Thus, if Christie’s doesn’t back out of this auction, artists feel as though it will only further promote “AI companies’ mass theft of human artists’ work,” as stated in their writing. 

The launch of various AI-generating databases has morphed into a hostile point of contention between artists and tech corporations, as many creatives have now gathered together to set forth copyright lawsuits to prevent further exploitation.

Among the signatories of this protest are recognized names, such as British composer Ed Newton-Rex and fine artist and illustrator Kayla Ortiz. 

Unfortunately for Ortiz, this is not her first time on the AI battlegrounds. Not only is she recognized by her work for major companies like Marvel Studios and Ubisoft, but she has also become a leading-name AI awareness activist and has taken part in multiple class action lawsuits against the companies behind AI art-training services.

Christie’s combatted the backlash by explaining that those whose works will be in the auction were enthusiastic about the use of AI and helped to train the devices themselves, with their own pieces of art. 

Some of the artists involved even spoke out about it. When commenting on his piece depicting an altered portrayal of his wife, Holly Herndon, British artist Mat Dryhurst said the work is a commentary on how images of Herndon were publicly available in other AI art generators. This ties back to the concept of artists reclaiming agency in their technologically-altered art. 

As of right now, Christie’s shows no sign of backing down from the making of history with their augmented auction.