---
title: "A Work of AI-Generated Art Just Sold For Vastly More Than Expected"
description: "A prominent British auction house just sold a piece of AI-generated art for vastly more than it expected. What that means is unclear."
date: "2018-10-25"
modified: "2018-10-25"
authors:
  - name: "Jon Christian"
    job_title: "Executive Editor"
    link: "https://futurism.com/authors/jonc"
url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/ai-generated-art-christies"
categories:
  - "Art"
  - "Artificial Intelligence"
  - "Future Society"
tags:
  - "christie's"
  - "edmond de belamy"
  - "hugo caselles-dupré"
  - "the digest"
---

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

![Default Futurism featured image](<https://futurism.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/Futurism-Filler-Image.jpg>)

## AI Auction

Back in August, [we reported](<https://futurism.com/the-byte/ai-generated-portrait-christies>) 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](<https://www.christies.com/Lotfinder/lot_details.aspx?sid=&intObjectID=6166184&T=Lot&language=en>) 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*](<https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/43ez3b/ai-generated-artwork-just-sold-at-christies>) 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](<https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/43ez3b/ai-generated-artwork-just-sold-at-christies>) \[*Motherboard*\]

***More on AI-generated art: [AI-Generated Art Will Go on Sale Alongside Human-Made Works This Fall](<https://futurism.com/the-byte/ai-generated-portrait-christies>)***

## Author
I'm responsible for editing, assigning, and scouting at Futurism, as well as occasionally writing for the site. That work involves keeping an eye on a wide range of narratives and issues, but over the past few years I've become increasingly interested in how AI is shaping the future of media, the web, and information itself. My day-to-day often involves collaborating on reporting and commentary projects bylined by my colleagues, but I try to find time to do my own reporting as well; stories I've broken for Futurism have been cited by publications including the New York Times, the Washington Post, the New Yorker, Wired, Ars Technica, New York Magazine, the Columbia Journalism Review, Bloomberg, and more. I grew up in Southern Vermont and attended Vanderbilt University. Prior to Futurism, I contributed to outlets including the Boston Globe, Vice, Wired, Slate, the Atlantic, the Outline, Ars Technica and more, and did stints in farming and food service. I currently live in Brooklyn, New York, and in my free time I enjoy pinball, word games, cycling, running, and music production.

### Author social links  
[Bluesky](<https://bsky.app/profile/jonchristian.net>)