Christie's just sold a work made by an algorithm for $432,000. Who deserves credit? Jason Bailey explores the topic.

This commentary by Marion Maneker is available to AMMpro subscribers. (The first month of AMMpro is free and subscribers are welcome to sign up for the first month and cancel before they are billed.)

Jason Bailey is a collector of Artificial Intellgence art who explored the question of Portrait of Edmond Belamy’s authorship for AMMdaily. This is his article.

Someone paid $432,000 at Christie’s today for the Portrait of Edmond Belamy, a work of art made by an algorithm that was offered in Christie’s Prints and Multiples sale with an estimate of $7-10,000.

Even before the wild price was achieved, there was some controversy surrounding the work. The creation of the image was aided by the use of AI that analyzed 15,000 portraits and then made 11 ‘original’ versions of its own, raising questions of authorship. On top of that, the group behind the production of the portraits has come under criticism from other artists who use artificial intelligence for the way they came to produce the work.