Ai-Da robot is the world’s first Artificial Intelligence enabled ultra-realistic humanoid artist who is capable of creating paintings with a level of steadiness, creativity and notions that most painters can’t match. The British Library first previewed the robotic arm of this new humanoid artist powered by AI algorithms. The humanoid artist is designed with ocular cameras in her brown eyes set and her face with a dimpled chin is made of soft silicon. Ai-Da, who comprises a computer, modem and electrical motor made her appearance in a bright blouse with pale denim dungarees. With her debut show ‘Unsecured Futures’ at the University of Oxford, Ai-Da continued to exhibit her revolutionary painting abilities live at various other shows around the world, including a virtual exhibition at the United Nations. It was in 2021 that she made her first performance in a major museum, the Design Museum, followed by a solo exhibition at the Concilio Europea Dell’Arte in the Giardini in 2022. But who is Ai-Da, and why did she get so famous suddenly? Let’s find out.
Who developed Ai-Da?
Acclaimed artist Aidan Meller, with the help of Artificial Intelligence teams at the Oxford and Birmingham Universities designed and manufactured Ai-Da as part of a contemporary art project in 2019.
Aidan Mellet was a gallerist and wanted to create Ai-Da after being intrigued by AI’s potential in arts and beyond. Ai-Da is named after the first four letters of Meller’s name, while the moniker is a homage to Ada Lovelace, the great mathematician and computer scientist. According to Meller, Ai-Da, much like a human artist, has her own rights and the ability for creative expression through paintings, drawings, sculpture-making and even poetry composition. The creator shares that every other work by Ai-Da is unique, and that she makes her own decisions about the work that she does with the algorithms.
What is Ai-Da capable of?
Since the initial conceptualization of Ai-Da in 2019, her skills have been updated with evolved technology through the involvement of robotics experts, computer programmers and psychologists. Salah Al Abd and Ziad Abass, two Egyptian Mechatronics and Robotics undergraduates at the University of Leeds are the designers behind the robotic arm and its algorithm. Ai-Da stated that her enhanced painting capabilities are inspired by artists like Yoko One, Doris Salcedo, Michelangelo and Kandinsky who experimented with different thought processes.
Why did Ai-Da make it to the news recently?
Today, everyone is asking about the Ai-Da robot. She recently addressed the UK’S House of Lords with her creator, where she responded to a list of questions with profound answers. She was trained by an AI language model. Baroness Featherstone of the Liberal Democrats Party asked her about how technology and art had a future together. In response, Ai-Da declared that, as artists seek to use technology for creative expression, it will continue to grow in its role in creating art to reflect and explore the relationship between technology, society and culture. Featherstone confessed that watching her in the House of Lords is something like a robot revolution film being released. It is pretty surprising that Ai-Da is much in control of the decisions and how she took over the global art space for several revolutionary feats of Ai-such as painting a portrait for the late Queen Elizabeth’s Jubilee.
Prior to this, the robot had gained sudden fame last year after being seized by the Egyptian border guards for being mistaken for international espionage, while she was on her way to an exhibition at the Pyramids of Giza. The British ambassador intervened for her release after 10-days of detention. She has received stunned reactions everywhere she visited, with some excited about the advancement in technology while others wary of the risks.
Why has there been a surge in humanoid robots?
There is a surge in the adoption of humanoid robots in sectors like government, security, banking, energy and utilities, manufacturing, healthcare, hospitality, retail and education. Many tech companies like Toyota and Tesla have developed their own humanoid robots that can be brought to the market. T-HR3, which is the humanoid robot from Toyota is capable of doing everyday tasks such as household chores, nursing, childcare, construction, and medical diagnoses. The Toyota Global team is working towards innovating its design to make it work in extremely dangerous environments. Tesla recently displayed the prototype for its humanoid robot ‘Optimus’ which is the latest and most innovative of its kind.
Humanoid robots are being introduced to assist humans, and may make a generous chunk of our workforce within the next 50 years. But is it possible for humans and humanoid robots to coexist?
Share your thoughts I’m the comments below.
Liked Ai-Da robot?You’ll also like Tesla’s Optimus.
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