Ai-Da is the world’s first ultra-realistic AI robot artist. As a machine, with Artificial Intelligence capabilities, her artist persona is the artwork, along with her drawings, performance art and collaborative paintings and sculptures. As conceptual art, Ai-Da encourages us to re-consider our self-perception through the lens of a humanoid.

Extraordinarily complex, our online worlds are pushed and pulled by forces and powers that are sometimes apparent but largely oblique. Ai-Da, the machine with AI capacities, highlights those tensions: is she an artist in her own right? Is she an avatar, or a fictional character? These considerations bring to the forefront the questions coming up rapidly in our future.

Ai-Da addresses the question of creativity. Professor Margaret Boden states:“Creativity is the ability to come up with ideas or artefacts that are new,surprising, and valuable”. Under this definition, Ai-Da is creative – what does it mean for our self-evaluation when Ai-Da, a machine robot, creates drawings and art?

Ai-Da uses a mix of human and AI created speech to communicate through spoken word and text. This forms the base of much of her performance art.

She uses cameras in her eyes and AI algorithms to draw portraits, which she creates in physical from through her robotic arm.

Ai-Da uses AI algorithms to produce artwork contributions for works in which she collaborates with humans – such as her paintings and sculptures. These collaborative works use traditional artist practises, such as oil painting and bronze casting, as well as cutting edge 3D printing and scientific scans. The artworks involve multi-layered processes, which reflect the complexities of our lives, where we interact with technology and large, interdependent global supply chains on a daily basis.

Her work considers complex tensions, such as environmental degradation,and the treatment of captive animals. Her next show will address consciousness and suffering, and how sentient creatures respond to trauma.

Ai-Da aims to get us re-formulating absurdity, reminiscent of Dada. As Aldous Huxley’s Brave New challenges knock on our door, Ai-Da aims to remind us that new technologies bring power. In human hands, this power is at risk of being abused – something we collectively need to watch out for and guard against. Through art, Ai-Da takes the space to re-imagine our futures with us all.

Ai-Da was devised in Oxford, and built in Cornwall. Programmed internationally, she exists within a team of cross-disciplinary skills and philosophies, called the Oxfordians. This team includes, amongst others,digital creators, computer programmers, engineers, mathematicians,biologists and painters.

Her first show at the University of Oxford, June 2019, was titled Unsecured Futures: The Pan sapien tragedy of the competitive “Other”. It encouraged discussions on transhumanism and creativity, and considerations of the environment and animals in captivity. Her persona blurs the lines between human and machine interactions, providing an acutely relevant reflection on current societal trends.

Highlights of 2019 include being part of European ARTificial IntelligenceLab exhibition at Ars Electronica, Linz, and a workshop at the Tate Exchange,Tate Modern, London. In December 2019 she was interviewed by Tim Marlow (artistic director of the Royal Academy) at the Sarabande Foundation,London, and she did a TEDx talk in February 2020.