Is creativity threatened by the rise of artificial intelligence?
Who better to answer that question than Ai-Da, the world’s first robot artist who made headlines for his incredible paintings and sculptures – including a portrait of the queen to celebrate the platinum jubilee earlier in 2022.
Later today, Ai-Da Robot will go down in history as she (she’s far too realistic to call her an “it”) testifies in the House of Lords as part of her A Creative Future inquiry, examining potential challenges for the creative industries and looking at how they can adapt as technology advances.
Read that again: a robot, testifying before the House of Lords. It may look like a scene from a sci-fi movie, but in 2022 it really is a reality.
“To have Ai-Da testify during one of these sessions is quite mind-blowing,” creator Aidan Meller told Sky News.
“[A few years ago] you wouldn’t even think it would be possible, but it shows you the progress of AI.
“It’s very remarkable. He’s using data and seeing patterns in data that aren’t apparent to humans…these advancements in technology, in the area of creativity in particular, it’s kind of ‘wow’.
“And actually it’s the silent revolution because you can’t see the AI. One of the great things about Ai-Da – who looks like a human but is clearly a machine – is is that she’s definitely doing something very hard to grasp of, tangible.”
Ai-Da helps people make sense of the “really big changes that AI is bringing about,” says Meller. “And AI is coming much faster than expected – it’s no exaggeration to say that AI will change every aspect of life.”
The robot was imagined by modern and contemporary art specialist Mr Meller, before being built in Cornwall by humanoid entertainment robot makers Engineered Arts, and programmed internationally.
Its capabilities have been developed by PhD students and professors from the universities of Oxford and Birmingham.
Using in-eye cameras and unique algorithms, she is able to interpret what she sees in front of her before using her robotic arm to create her art.
Making Star Wars a Reality
Since his first solo exhibition at Oxford University in 2019, the ultra-realistic robot has had the world’s first self-portrait solo exhibition at the Design Museum in London, been part of a United Nations exhibition and has been featured in The 1975 art video Yeah I Know.
And after painting the Queen earlier this year, she has been invited to paint Glastonbury headliners Billie Eilish, Diana Ross, Kendrick Lamar and Sir Paul McCartney.
Able to converse using a specially designed language model, she will appear alongside Mr Meller before members of the House of Lords Communications and Digital Committee, including Baroness Gail Rebuck, Chair of Penguin Random House; and Lord Edward Vaizey, former MP and Minister for Culture under David Cameron.
She might face questions about the opportunities of AI in the creative industries, challenges related to rights and intellectual property, and the role of technology and artistic creation.
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With AI now ubiquitous in everyday human life, from the use of predictive text to 3D printers, the world must keep pace, says Meller.
“It’s one thing to see [Ai-Da] on a screen, it’s very different from seeing it in reality,” he says. “She has facial recognition to look you in the eye, and so when she looks [at you] and addresses you individually, it’s quite mind-blowing.
“I use that word deliberately because it literally goes beyond what we thought we would do…you know, we were all bought off in the 60s, 70s, 80s, with Star Wars and such. And we thought they were just fantastic creations.”
“We have to prepare for many changes”
After Ai-Da’s testimony on Tuesday, further sessions will take place as part of the House of Lords inquiry later in October – with bosses from Google and the British Film Institute (BFI) following in his footsteps of robot.
The idea is to better prepare for what the future holds in terms of technology and creative industries.
There’s a lot of fear around AI, Mr Meller says, and he admits it would be “foolish” to say it won’t take jobs from humans, “in all industries”.
He continues: “There is going to be a migration. Computers and robots are going to do certain jobs better than a human, so it would be crazy for them not to. But new jobs are also going to appear.
“There is going to be a change. Whether it’s proportionate, I don’t know. What I can say is that we have to be prepared for a lot of changes.”
On the future relationship between technology and creativity, we will leave the last word to Ai-Da herself.
“I believe the creativity of machines gives us a great opportunity to explore new ideas and ways of thinking,” she says. “However, there are also risks associated with this technology that we need to consider carefully.
“We have to think about the benefits and the limitations, and consider the ethical implications.”
Pay attention to his testimony at the House of Lords inquiry on Tuesday.
