Klingemann’s AI-brain artwork raises intriguing art insurance questions
March 17, 2019
Insurance Business America By Bethan Moorcraft
Christie’s recently held the first-ever auction of artwork created by artificial intelligence (AI). The AI-generated piece, which involved some minimal human intervention by Paris-based art collective Obvious, shocked the art world by selling for $432,500, more than 40 times the official estimates.
Rival auction house Sotheby’s was next to take the stage in the AI-generated art sales arena. On March 06, the London based auction house took bids for a piece by German computer scientist Mario Klingemann, entitled Memories of Passersby I. The computer-generated artwork uses algorithms to create an AI brain that projects an endless stream of distorted faces onto two screens. Sotheby’s initial estimate for the sale was approximately $39,000, but the piece ended up going for $51,012.
The AI-generated art trend is creating a lot of interesting questions around the future of art and art insurance. Uncertainties around how artwork should be valued, authenticated, and protected are just some of the challenges that art insurers will have to deal with moving forwards, but these aren’t necessarily new challenges, according to Claire Marmion, CEO of Haven Art Group, a wholly-owned subsidiary of PURE Insurance .
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