AI Robot paints its own moonscapes in traditional Chinese style
Victor Wong took three years to build and programme the robot called A.I Gemini and teach it artistic techniques.
HONG KONG (Reuters) - A Hong Kong artist has created an artificial intelligence robot which creates its own unique paintings, asking the question: can a robot have an imagination?
Victor Wong took three years to build and programme the robot called A.I Gemini and teach it artistic techniques.
Randomness has been written into its algorithm, meaning Wong does not know what it will paint before it begins.
Wong s latest project is called Far Side of the Moon . 3D NASA images of the moon were fed into the robot s AI (artificial intelligence), as well as images of the dark side of the moon captured by China s Chang e-4 lunar rover in January.
A.I Gemini takes an average of 50 hours to create a blend of 3D landscapes on traditional, fresh xuan paper made from bark and rice straw. The average price for a piece on sale in London is £10,000 ($13,000).
Speaking at the 3812 London Gallery, where his latest exhibition is running until May 11, Wong explained why he used lunar imagery as a base for the work.
"I was inspired by this historical moment, that humans start (are) exploring the new area just like A.I. Gemini and I explore new areas in paintings."
Wong designed the robot to use the ancient Chinese art of shuimo to create its paintings, using mainly black ink and water, blending ancient techniques with artificial intelligence technology.
"At our current time, artificial intelligence is something state-of-the-art at this moment. Why not use it to create art?," he said.
"I think that is the significance, we are using today s latest technologies to create something that can evolve into something that we will continue to explore," he added.
Other artists are using artificial intelligence for ink jet-printed artwork, but Wong believes A.I Gemini is the first to create shuimo pieces.
Wong, who is also the director of Asian visual effects company vfxNova, answered the question: Can work created by a robot be considered art?
"At this moment I feel good about what A.I. Gemini and I created together and to show it to the world and people say wow this is a nice painting. If this is a nice painting can it (be) categorized as art? I think so at this moment," he said.
