{"id":28991,"date":"2025-02-18T14:41:47","date_gmt":"2025-02-18T13:41:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/magazine.luxus-plus.com\/?p=28991"},"modified":"2025-02-18T14:41:47","modified_gmt":"2025-02-18T13:41:47","slug":"ai-at-christies-auction-scandal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/magazine.luxus-plus.com\/en\/ai-at-christies-auction-scandal\/","title":{"rendered":"AI at Christie&#8217;s: auction scandal"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"initial-letter\"><p>The auction world has been in the grip of a bad buzz in recent days. The renowned auction house Christie&#8217;s has announced a sale dedicated to artificial intelligence, which has caused quite a stir among artists&#8230;<\/p>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>On 7 February, Christie&#8217;s announced its first auction: \u2018Augmented Intelligence\u2019, to be held from 20 February to 5 March. According to Christie&#8217;s, the event will showcase \u2018works by AI pioneers from the 1960s such as Harold Cohen, as well as contemporary artists such as Refik Anadol, Pindar Van Arman, Holly Herdnon &amp; Mat Dryhusrt, Alexander Reben, Claire Silver, Sasha Stiles and many others\u2019.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2>A sale right in the middle of the news<\/h2>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>Christie&#8217;s intends to explore how technology is redefining art<\/strong>. \u2018From robotics to GANs to interactive experiences, artists are integrating and collaborating with artificial intelligence in a variety of mediums, including paintings, sculptures, prints, digital art and more,\u2019 explains the House, which will be auctioning around 20 works.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>These include Holly Herndon &amp; Mat Dryhurst&#8217;s \u2018Embedding Study\u2019 1&amp;2 from 2024, estimated at between $70,000 and $90,000, Pindar Van Arman&#8217;s \u2018Emerging Faces\u2019, estimated at between $180,000 and $250,000, and Refik Anadol&#8217;s \u2018Machine Hallucinations &#8211; ISS Dreams &#8211; A\u2019, estimated at between $150,000 and $200,000.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_28960\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-28960\" style=\"width: 1400px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-28960 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/magazine.luxus-plus.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/webholly-herndon-and-matt-dryhurst-hi-res.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1400\" height=\"1050\" srcset=\"https:\/\/magazine.luxus-plus.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/webholly-herndon-and-matt-dryhurst-hi-res.jpg 1400w, https:\/\/magazine.luxus-plus.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/webholly-herndon-and-matt-dryhurst-hi-res-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/magazine.luxus-plus.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/webholly-herndon-and-matt-dryhurst-hi-res-1024x768.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/magazine.luxus-plus.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/webholly-herndon-and-matt-dryhurst-hi-res-768x576.jpg 768w, https:\/\/magazine.luxus-plus.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/webholly-herndon-and-matt-dryhurst-hi-res-60x45.jpg 60w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1400px) 100vw, 1400px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-28960\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">\u201cEmbedding Study\u201d 1&amp;2 d\u2019Holly Herndon &amp; Mat Dryhurst \u00a9 Christie\u2019s<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>This is a topical issue, as President Emmanuel Macron announced in early February a colossal investment of \u20ac109 billion in AI over the next few years. \u2018We want to be part of it and we want to invent, otherwise we&#8217;ll be dependent on others\u2019, he said on the France 2 television channel on the eve of the Action Summit on Artificial Intelligence at the Grand Palais in Paris. In mid-January, US President Donald Trump announced a $500 billion investment in AI as part of the \u2018Stargate\u2019 plan.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2><em>\u2018These models [&#8230;] exploit human artists\u2019<\/em><\/h2>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>But Christie&#8217;s sale did not go down well with industry professionals. The day after the auction was announced, an open letter was circulated calling on Christie&#8217;s to abandon the project. \u2018We are writing to express our deep concern about the auction of IA works of art\u2019, it read. The 4800 signatories criticise Christie&#8217;s for marketing pieces that \u2018have been created using AI models known to have been trained on copyrighted works without a licence\u2019. \u2018These models, and the companies that use them, exploit human artists by using their work without permission or payment to create commercial AI products that compete with them.\u2019<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Christie&#8217;s, however, disagrees. In an interview with The Guardian, a spokesperson for Christie&#8217;s said that \u2018the artists represented in this auction all have strong and existing multi-disciplinary artistic practices, some of which are recognised in leading museum collections. The works presented in this auction use artificial intelligence to enrich their corpus and, in most cases, artificial intelligence is used in a controlled way, with data formed from data provided by the artists themselves\u2019.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_28964\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-28964\" style=\"width: 1205px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-28964 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/magazine.luxus-plus.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/\u00a9-Christies.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1205\" height=\"1950\" srcset=\"https:\/\/magazine.luxus-plus.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/\u00a9-Christies.jpg 1205w, https:\/\/magazine.luxus-plus.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/\u00a9-Christies-185x300.jpg 185w, https:\/\/magazine.luxus-plus.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/\u00a9-Christies-633x1024.jpg 633w, https:\/\/magazine.luxus-plus.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/\u00a9-Christies-768x1243.jpg 768w, https:\/\/magazine.luxus-plus.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/\u00a9-Christies-949x1536.jpg 949w, https:\/\/magazine.luxus-plus.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/\u00a9-Christies-60x97.jpg 60w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1205px) 100vw, 1205px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-28964\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">\u201cMachine Hallucinations \u2013 ISS Dreams \u2013 A \u00bb de Refik Anadol \u00a9 Christie\u2019s<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Also in The Guardian, British artist Mat Dryhurst, one of the artists taking part in the auction, rejects the criticism of his counterparts. \u2018I deplore the fact that an important debate, which should be about business and government policy, is focused on artists grappling with the technology of our time\u2019.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>While opinions differ, the solution could lie in stronger legislation to protect artists and, above all, to differentiate between works produced by humans and those accompanied or created by AI. A framework that could protect copyright and rule out unfair competition.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Read also: <a href=\"https:\/\/magazine.luxus-plus.com\/en\/karl-lagerfelds-last-personal-effects-up-for-auction\/\">Karl Lagerfeld&#8217;s last personal effects put up for auction<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Featured photo: \u2018Emerging Faces\u2019 by Pindar Van Arman \u00a9 Christie&#8217;s<\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The auction world has been in the grip of a bad buzz in recent days. The renowned auction house Christie&#8217;s has announced a sale dedicated to artificial intelligence, which has caused quite a stir among artists&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":552,"featured_media":28962,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_titles_title":"%%post_title%% %%sep%% %%sitetitle%%","_seopress_titles_desc":"The auction world has been in the grip of a bad buzz in recent days. 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