--- title: "Humanoid Robot Sophia Sells 12 Second Video NFT for Almost $700,000" description: "Celebrity humanoid robot Sophia just sold a digital artwork as a non-fungible token (NFT) for $688,888, as Reuters reports." date: "2021-03-25" modified: "2021-03-25" authors: - name: "Victor Tangermann" job_title: "Senior Editor" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/victor" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/humanoid-robot-sophia-sells-12-second-video-nft-for-almost-700000" categories: - "Blockchain" - "Future Society" - "NFTs" tags: - "nft" - "nfts" - "Sophia" - "sophia robot" - "the digest" --- # Humanoid Robot Sophia Sells 12 Second Video NFT for Almost $700,000 ![Celebrity humanoid robot Sophia just sold a digital artwork as a non-fungible token (NFT) for $688,888, as Reuters reports.]() *\Image: Andrea Bonaceto\* ## Robot Art Robots are taking over the art world. Take, for instance, celebrity humanoid robot Sophia, who — or, uh, "which"? — just sold a digital artwork as a non-fungible token (NFT) for $688,888, [*Reuters* reports](). Sophia teamed up with Italian digital artist Andrea Bonaceto to produce a combination of various elements, plucked from Bonaceto's works. The robot even mixed in some of her own physical paintings. It's yet another blockbuster sale of, well, the digital ownership over a digital piece of art. What's next? Humanoid robots buying other humanoid robots' digital artwork? ## "Sophia Instantiation" The resulting work, a 12-second MP4 file titled "[Sophia Instantiation,]()" shows the evolution of Bonaceto's portraits as they are slowly melded into Sophia's own. "I’m so excited about people’s response to new technologies like robotics... and am so glad to be part of these creativities," the robot told *Reuters*. It's still unclear who decided to spend three quarters of a million dollars for a piece of art created — sort of — by a robot. "I was kind of astonished to see how fast it shot up too as the bidding war took place at the end of the auction," Sophia told the news outlet. "So it was really exhilarating and stunning." Nobody really knows where the NFT trend will take us next. Is it a bubble? Plenty of experts and artists [believe it is](). But if there's one thing we've learned about the crypto world, it's that nobody actually knows what's right around corner. **READ MORE:** [NFT artwork by humanoid robot sells at auction for nearly $700,000]() \[*Reuters*\] **More on NFTs:** *[The Guy Who Sold a $69 Million NFT Thinks NFTs Are Pretty Dumb]()* ## Author I've been at Futurism since 2017, where my role has evolved to encompass design, writing, and increasingly editing. I've always been fascinated by space exploration and advanced transportation, which I've leaned into by interviewing luminaries in those fields while closely following the dimensions of policy and regulation that allow next-generation projects to succeed -- or, sometimes, to fail. I'm also keenly interested in the effects of generative AI on society, policies, and democratic institutions, as well as clean energy, physics and biology, and the vagaries of tech leadership. My work for Futurism has been cited by publications including Ars Technica, Gizmodo, PC Magazine, Jalopnik, Fox News, and the New York Post. I spent my childhood living in locations including Manila, the Philippines, and Geneva, Switzerland, attended McGill University, and now live in Toronto, Canada. Before Futurism I worked at AskMen and a small photography studio. In my free time, I'm an avid gardener, foodie, and craft beer lover, as well as a maker of artisanal hot pepper sauces. I have a magnificent dog named Freida. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()