Artwork

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GUEST OBSERVATION
A painting generated by artificial intelligence will go up for <a href="https://www.christies.com/features/A-collaboration-between-two-artists-one-human-one-a-machine-9332-1.aspx" target="_blank">sale at auction later this month</a> – raising again the question of whether a machine can be creative.
The painting, called <a href="http://obvious-art.com/edmond-de-belamy" target="_blank">Edmond De Belamy</a>, is estimated to be worth between 7,000€ and 10,000€ (A$11,375-A$16,250).
The auction house Christie’s <a href="https://www.christies.com/features/A-collaboration-between-two-artists-one-human-one-a-machine-9332-1.aspx" target="_blank">says the painting</a> is the product of a Generative Adversarial Network, in which one artificial neural network (the so-called Generator) creates an image based on its analysis of a database of 15,000 paintings by real people.
Another network (the Discriminator) then compares the new artwork to human-made paintings. If the Discriminator cannot tell the difference, the computer-generated image has passed the test.
But isn’t art the highest expression of what it means to be human? How could machines possibly emulate truly creative practices, which are often regarded as the pinnacle of human achievement?
What is creativity?
Ultimately, the nature of creativity – and whether machines will ever be genuinely creative – is a deeply philosophical question that rests to a large degree on where we look for creativity.
If we locate creativity in the actual artwork, it is hard to deny that machines are capable of being creative.
<a href="https://www.propertyobserver.com.au/http://www.sussex.ac.uk/profiles/276" target="_blank">Margaret Boden</a> is a pioneer in the field of AI and computational creativity. In her 2016 book <a href="https://global.oup.com/academic/product/ai-9780198777984" target="_blank">AI: Its nature and future</a> she defines creativity as: "…the ability to produce ideas or artefacts that are new, surprising, and valuable."
She then distinguishes three different types of creativity: combinational, exploratory, and transformational.
Types of creativity
Combinational creativity combines familiar ideas in new ways. A good example is the AI artist <a href="http://www.cloudpainter.com/" target="_blank">Pindar van Arman</a>, who trained his robots to paint portraits, including self-portraits. In <a href="https://medium.com/datadriveninvestor/creativity-is-probably-just-a-complex-mix-of-generative-art-algorithms-6d37a0087e86" target="_blank">his view</a>, artistic creativity: "…is little more than a complex mix of competing generative algorithms."
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Exploratory creativity, argues Boden, exploits some “culturally valued way of thinking” (styles, genres, and so on) and generates new work within these parameters.
For instance, <a href="https://www.nextrembrandt.com/" target="_blank">The Next Rembrandt</a>, a campaign by the Dutch bank ING, used feature-extraction algorithms to identify all the stylistic elements that characterise Rembrandt’s work. It then used this dataset to create a new portrait in the unique style of the famous Dutch painter.
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Transformational creativity does not just explore a given genre, but goes beyond it. It drops, negates or complements existing styles to such an extent that new artistic conventions might be developed in the process.
This form of creativity can be achieved by so-called evolutionary algorithms that can transform themselves and evaluate their “ideas” based upon criteria provided by the programmer.
The advertising agency M&amp;C Saatchi used these algorithms to <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/media-network/2015/jul/27/artificial-intelligence-future-advertising-saatchi-clearchannel" target="_blank">create an outdoor poster for a fictional coffee brand</a> that “evolved” based on the level of “engagement” it elicited from consumers.
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Equipped with facial recognition technology and connected to the internet, the algorithm determined which features of the ad – colours, typography, copy, layout – were successful and worth being replicated in further “generations”.
So it can be said that machines have successfully conquered all of the conceptual domains of creativity.
The artist’s intention
If we locate creativity not in the actual artwork but in the mind of the artist, two key objections are commonly made:
<ul>
<li>
The actual creative act does not reside in the output generated by the machine, but in its initial programming. Therefore, it is still fundamentally human ingenuity that drives the creative process.
</li>
<li>
The art generated by AI is not creative, because it is unintentional.
</li>
</ul>
Given recent advances in the creation of deep neural networks and learning algorithms, the first objection is increasingly hard to defend.
When Google/Deep Mind’s <a href="https://deepmind.com/research/alphago/">AlphaGo</a> <a href="https://www.propertyobserver.com.au/http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-03-15/google-ai-alphago-gets-divine-go-ranking/7249256" target="_blank">beat the highest-ranked human player</a> of the ancient Chinese board game in 2016, some of its moves had never been played before by humans and were described as “<a href="https://www.wired.com/2016/03/googles-ai-wins-pivotal-game-two-match-go-grandmaster/" target="_blank">creative</a>”.
Importantly, AlphaGo does not follow pre-programmed rules. It uses general machine learning techniques to figure out for itself how to succeed at the game. It would therefore only be fair to attribute creativity to both the human programmers and the machine.
The second objection is more difficult to dismiss. We hardly ever appreciate creative artefacts based solely on their immediate appearance and the responses they evoke.
As <a href="https://www2.bc.edu/ellen-winner/publications" target="_blank">Ellen Winner</a>, a professor of psychology at Boston College, argues in her upcoming book <a href="https://global.oup.com/academic/product/how-art-works-9780190863357" target="_blank">How Art Works</a>, the notion of an unmediated experience of art is most likely a myth.
The value we ascribe to art is deeply influenced by multiple forces – an important one being what we think the artist’s intentions were when creating the work.
Just look at debate over the value of the Banksy artwork Girl With Balloon that went to auction. Some argue its <a href="https://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/real-life/true-stories/banksys-selfdestructing-art-more-valuable-shredded/news-story/92628b40006a41c3784dc596b8ffb056" target="_blank">value has increased</a> after the artist <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/BomXijJhArX/" target="_blank">deliberately part-shredded the artwork</a>.
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The artwork, now renamed Love Is in the Bin, was <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2018/oct/11/woman-who-bought-shredded-banksy-artwork-will-go-through-with-sale" target="_blank">described by Sotheby’s Alex Branczik</a> as: "…the first artwork in history to have been created live during an auction."
Seen from this perspective, we will accept machines as being genuinely creative only when they attain a sense of self and the capability to explain why they did what they did.
Disrupting the creative economy
But machines don’t need to be genuinely creative to have an impact on jobs and industries. According to a <a href="https://www.fhi.ox.ac.uk/will-ai-exceed-human-performance-evidence-ai-experts/" target="_blank">large survey of machine learning experts</a> in 2015, AI is predicted to be able to write high school essays by 2026, generate a top 40 pop song by 2027, and write a bestselling book by 2049.
These experts also expected AI to beat humans at Go in 2027 – a feat AlphaGo accomplished in 2016. Do we need to worry then? Are machines going take over both the mundane tasks and the creative jobs?
While they will definitely displace humans when it comes to routine creative activities, a <a href="https://www.mckinsey.com/featured-insights/future-of-organizations-and-work/jobs-lost-jobs-gained-what-the-future-of-work-will-mean-for-jobs-skills-and-wages" target="_blank">study by McKinsey</a> expects that overall jobs in the creative economy will increase.
But job profiles will most certainly change, and established value chains in the creative economy <a href="https://www.weforum.org/whitepapers/creative-disruption-the-impact-of-emerging-technologies-on-the-creative-economy" target="_blank">will be disrupted</a>. For instance, machines already <a href="https://futurism.com/a-new-ai-can-write-music-as-well-as-a-human-composer" target="_blank">compose high-quality music</a> or <a href="https://www.technologyreview.com/s/609482/ai-is-dreaming-up-new-kinds-of-video-games/" target="_blank">imagine new video games</a> from scratch.
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How exactly these advances in machine creativity will affect the creative industries – and what economic, social and ethical consequences this entails – is an issue deserving much more attention than it receives at the moment.
But none of this will matter when the portrait of Edmond De Belamy comes up for auction. What matters then is only how much appetite bidders have for AI-generated art – keeping in mind that there might be much more of it in the future.<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/103424/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" style="border: none !important; box-shadow: none !important; margin: 0 !important; max-height: 1px !important; max-width: 1px !important; min-height: 1px !important; min-width: 1px !important; opacity: 0 !important; outline: none !important; padding: 0 !important; text-shadow: none !important;">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/240732/original/file-20181016-165885-ymrpfu.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=1000&amp;fit=clip"><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/240732/original/file-20181016-165885-ymrpfu.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;fit=clip" alt=""></a>
Portrait of Edmond Belamy, 2018, created by GAN (Generative Adversarial Network). Obvious
Sven Brodmerkel, Assistant Professor for Integrated Marketing Communications, Bond University
This article is republished from <a href="http://theconversation.com" target="_blank">The Conversation</a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/under-the-hammer-artwork-by-an-algorithm-is-up-for-auction-so-does-that-mean-ai-is-now-creative-103424" target="_blank">original article</a>.
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Artwork by an algorithm is up for auction, so does that mean AI is now creative?

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John Symond, the high-profile founder of Aussie Home Loans, is selling off some paintings set to fetch around $5 million or so from the Sotheby's sale.
Some were mentioned in a privately published book on his collection.
The 14 of Symond's surplus artworks top the line-up at <a href="https://www.sothebysaustralia.com.au/catalogue/AU0830" target="_blank">Sotheby's November 20 sale</a> including John Brack's Pantomime (above).
Pantomime has a presale estimate of $500,000 to $700,000. It last publicly sold at auction for $282,000, including premium, in December 2003.
Jeffrey Smart's 1965 Piazza D'Esedra has a presale estimate is $300,000 to $400,000, compared with the $135,250 the picture last fetched at Sotheby's in November 2003
He wants nothing in storage, following a rationalisation of what has always been a relatively disciplined collection.
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John Symond moves to sell some artwork

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Melbourne Central is hosting Australia's largest exhibition of video art outside an institution as part of its Lower Ground development.
Titled the Melbourne Central Art Loop, the installation has fifteen state-of-the-art LCD screens and five large steel overhead projector portals.
The exhibition is curated by Andy Dinan of MARS Gallery, who said Art Loop’s first show is a colourful and interactive video art featuring more than 30 internationally renowned and emerging Australian artists.
<img src="/images/2016/04/8/c1.jpg" alt="">
“We’ve curated a wide and diverse range of cutting-edge video works that are designed to intrigue and inspire," he said.
Artists featured in the first Art Loop exhibition include Kieran Boland, Erin Coates, Simon Finn and Diego Ramirez. One participating Art Loop artist will beselected to win a trip to LOOP Barcelona 2017 – the biggest international festival for video art.
Leigh Dunn, general manager of Melbourne Central, said the addition of Art Loop, combined with the additional design and architectural features will create an unconventional and exciting retail experience for both shoppers as well as retailers.
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Unexpected video art comes to life at Melbourne Central

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A 50 metre glowing sculpture will rise six metres out of the Yarra River designed by Melbourne artist Tracy Sarroff and feature 16 buoyant crystalline shards made from opaque acrylic, that will move with the tide and interact with pedestrians.
The development in the Yarra River at Yarra’s Edge in Docklands, named the Light Buoys, was commissioned by Yarra’s Edge developer, Mirvac, was inspired by the formation of reeds that are native to the Yarra.
Elysa Anderson, Mirvac’s General Manager of Residential Victoria said Light Buoys takes into account the design intent for the urban character of the Yarra’s Edge precinct and embraces the urban and riverfront nature of the precinct.
Artist Tracy Sarroff said she had been inspired by both science and science fiction to produce the artwork with its glowing shards of mostly cobalt blue and icy green shades, which will warm to red and pink hues when sonar sensors detect pedestrians moving closer.
“Light Buoys takes inspiration from science fact and science fiction, transforming what were once reeds and the West Melbourne Swamp, the work melds that natural past with a potential future,” she said.
“Although crafted using science and technology, the installation has life-like features: moving, breathing, pulsing and responding to the proximity of others.
“The installation enhances the locale and the riverside vista which are prime features influencing residents’ decision to move to Yarra’s Edge, while similarly enhancing the Yarra’s Edge experience for visitors and the art journey that exists along the Yarra."
Victorian Minister for Creative Industries, Martin Foley, officially launched the artwork in a ceremony on 1 August 2017.
 
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Light Buoys artwork illuminates Yarra's Edge, Docklands

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The recently refurbished ISPT foyer at 100 Creek Street has brought Brisbane’s subtropical environment into an office setting.
The lobby now opens up to an integrated state-of-the-art digital canvas wrapping around the lift core.
Along with new end of trip facilities the $10 million upgrade includes entry statements and sub-tropical gardens.
The dynamic curated content reflects ‘Elements of Queensland’ commissioned by local artists which exhibits the name of the building as digital morphing art.
ISPT Portfolio Manager for Commercial Services Mr Craig Blake said tenants and guests have respond well to the new 100 Creek Street vision.
“We are committed to creating places that work and look forward to continually evolving our environments to benefit all who work in and visit the building,” Mr Blake said.
Over the last 9 months 100 Creek Street has transacted over 3,000sq m across 11 transactions with an average rent of $685/sq m.
Savills’ Dan Boyes and John McDonald in conjunction with Andrew McPhail and James Comino of CBRE are jointly appointed to lease the balance of the available space.
“The works have repositioned 100 Creek Street as a market leader in the Brisbane CBD,” Mr Boyes said.
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