AI Usage at a Glance
Oct 25, 2018
Creative GenPractice documented: Christie's offered 'Portrait of Edmond de Belamy' (2018) by the Paris-based collective Obvious at its October 23-25 Prints and Multiples sale in New York, making it the first AI-generated artwork to sell at a major auction house. The work, produced using a generative adversarial network, sold for $432,500, more than 43 times its pre-sale high estimate of $10,000.
Practice DocumentedView practice →Oct 26, 2018
Creative GenNew evidence: This AI-generated portrait just sold for a stunning $432,500
Evidence AddedView practice →Oct 29, 2018
Creative GenNew evidence: Christie's sells AI-created artwork painted by an algorithm for $432,000
Evidence AddedView practice →Jul 1, 2023
OtherPractice documented: Christie's offers an annual Art + Tech Summit, launched in 2018, that brings together artists, technologists, academics, and industry leaders to discuss the intersection of emerging technology — including artificial intelligence — with the art and luxury markets. The summit does not involve Christie's directly deploying AI, but is a recurring platform for discourse Christie's hosts about AI's role in culture.
Practice DocumentedView practice →Jul 19, 2024
OtherNew evidence: At Christie's Art + Tech Summit, A.I. Dominated But There Were Few Answers About its Utility
Evidence AddedView practice →Jul 25, 2024
OtherNew evidence: At Christie's Art+Tech Summit 2024, industry leaders look into the future of AI and culture
Evidence AddedView practice →Jul 25, 2024
Creative GenPractice documented: Christie's deployed a dedicated auction for artworks created using artificial intelligence, titled 'Augmented Intelligence,' running from February 20 to March 5, 2025, billed by Christie's as the first sale exclusively focused on AI art at a major auction house. The 34-lot online and in-person auction totaled $728,784, surpassing its $600,000 pre-sale estimate.
Practice DocumentedView practice →Feb 17, 2025
Creative GenNew evidence: Christie's AI art auction inspires protests – and more art
Evidence AddedView practice →Mar 5, 2025
Creative GenNew evidence: Christie's AI Art Sale Defies Controversy, Surpasses Expectations
Evidence AddedView practice →Mar 5, 2025
Creative GenNew evidence: Christie's AI art auction outpaces expectations, bringing in more than $728,000
Evidence AddedView practice →Mar 5, 2025
Creative GenNew evidence: Christie's All-A.I. Sale Surpasses Expectations With a Haul of More Than $700,000
Evidence AddedView practice →Mar 7, 2025
Creative GenNew evidence: Controversial Christie's AI sale beats estimates.
Evidence AddedView practice →Christie's deployed a dedicated auction for artworks created using artificial intelligence, titled 'Augmented Intelligence,' running from February 20 to March 5, 2025, billed by Christie's as the first sale exclusively focused on AI art at a major auction house. The 34-lot online and in-person auction totaled $728,784, surpassing its $600,000 pre-sale estimate.
The sale featured works by artists including Refik Anadol, Holly Herndon and Mat Dryhurst, Claire Silver, Alexander Reben, and Harold Cohen, spanning mediums from sculpture and painting to NFTs and interactive experiences. Works in the sale were created using a range of AI techniques, including generative adversarial networks (GANs), text-to-image models, and machine learning-trained neural networks. Christie's accepted cryptocurrency as payment for 93% of lots, per a pre-sale announcement. The auction drew 37% first-time Christie's buyers, and 48% of bidders identified as Millennials or Gen Z.
Christie's deployed a dedicated auction for artworks created using artificial intelligence, titled 'Augmented Intelligence,' running from February 20 to March 5, 2025, billed by Christie's as the first sale exclusively focused on AI art at a major auction house. The 34-lot online and in-person auction totaled $728,784, surpassing its $600,000 pre-sale estimate.
Christie's offered 'Portrait of Edmond de Belamy' (2018) by the Paris-based collective Obvious at its October 23-25 Prints and Multiples sale in New York, making it the first AI-generated artwork to sell at a major auction house. The work, produced using a generative adversarial network, sold for $432,500, more than 43 times its pre-sale high estimate of $10,000.
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Christie's offered 'Portrait of Edmond de Belamy' (2018) by the Paris-based collective Obvious at its October 23-25 Prints and Multiples sale in New York, making it the first AI-generated artwork to sell at a major auction house. The work, produced using a generative adversarial network, sold for $432,500, more than 43 times its pre-sale high estimate of $10,000.
The work was produced using a generative adversarial network (GAN) trained on a dataset of 15,000 historical portraits spanning the 14th to 20th centuries. Christie's listed the medium of the lot as 'Generative Adversarial Network print, on canvas,' with no individual human artist attributed as creator. The sale was part of Christie's regular Prints & Multiples auction in New York. Christie's specialist Richard Lloyd noted the auction house's intent to 'participate in these continued conversations' about AI's role in art creation.
Christie's offers an annual Art + Tech Summit, launched in 2018, that brings together artists, technologists, academics, and industry leaders to discuss the intersection of emerging technology — including artificial intelligence — with the art and luxury markets. The summit does not involve Christie's directly deploying AI, but is a recurring platform for discourse Christie's hosts about AI's role in culture.
The summit has been held annually since 2018, with its eighth edition taking place on July 17, 2024, at Christie's Rockefeller Center galleries in New York, followed by a Hong Kong edition on October 29, 2024. The 2024 summit featured speakers including Steve Wozniak, Beeple, and Refik Anadol, and was organized around four pillars: AI in Real Life, Art and its Market, Thoughtful Luxury, and New Paradigms in Technology. More than 300 attendees and 65 speakers participated across 24 programs at the New York edition. The summit is positioned as a forum for Christie's to 'lead the dialogue about the role and impact of technologies in the art world,' according to the company's own description.
