A Work of AI-Generated Art Just Sold For Vastly More Than Expected

It was expected to fetch just $7,000 — but pulled in more than $400,000.

AI Auction

Back in August, we reported that a piece of art generated by an artificial intelligence was scheduled to go on auction at Christie's, a prominent British auction house.

Today the auction went through, and the portrait sold for vastly more than expected. Christie's anticipated it would fetch between $7,000 and $10,000 — but it instead sold for an impressive $432,000.

Art Thou

The piece, "Edmond de Belamy," is part of a series of works created by a group of three Parisian AI enthusiasts.

One of the creators of the piece, Hugo Caselles-Dupré, told Motherboard that he doesn't foresee algorithms replacing human artists — at least for the time being.

"Today, it’s not about algorithms that are replacing people," Caselles-Dupré said. "In the future, we might have to be careful about this, but today, they’re more like a tool."

READ MORE: An AI-Generated Artwork Just Sold for $432,500 at Christie’s [Motherboard]

More on AI-generated art: AI-Generated Art Will Go on Sale Alongside Human-Made Works This Fall