Christie's to Hold First Auction Dedicated to AI-Generated Art in New York

Christie's has announced "Augmented Intelligence," the first auction exclusively dedicated to artworks created using artificial intelligence and machine learning. The online sale runs from February 20 to March 5, 2025, with a preview exhibition at Christie's Rockefeller Center galleries in New York. The auction features 20 lots spanning painting, sculpture, digital and interactive works by leading figures in AI art, including Refik Anadol, Holly Herndon and Mat Dryhurst, Pindar Van Arman, and Alexander Reben. A selection of works from NVIDIA's AI Art Gallery is also included. Christie's previously sold the first AI-generated artwork at auction in 2018 (Portrait of Edmond Belamy by Obvious for $432,500) and the first NFT artwork in 2021 (Beeple's Everydays for $69 million). The auction comes amid debate over AI and copyright, with thousands of artists signing a letter calling for its cancellation, citing unauthorized use of copyrighted works to train AI models. The U.S. Copyright Office is expected to publish guidelines on AI copyright issues. Notable lots include Anadol's Machine Hallucinations – ISS Dreams, Herndon and Dryhurst's xhairymutantx, Van Arman's Emerging Faces series, and Reben's interactive robot painting performance. Nicole Sales Giles, Director of Digital Art at Christie's, stated: "AI technology is without a doubt the future, and its connection with creativity will become increasingly important."