London (AFP)

Ai-Da is presented as "one of the most exciting artists of our time". Its essence however distinguishes it from its peers: Ai-Da is a robot, equipped with artificial intelligence.

This technology allows him to create works and the University of Oxford, England, exhibits his first works from June 12 to July 6.

"She is totally algorithmic ... totally creative," her designer, art dealer Aidan Meller, told the press on Wednesday as the robot artist, dressed in a painter's blouse and wearing a brown wig. , crunched it.

"It's not just a very expensive printer: we do not know what it will achieve," he says. Forty-five minutes later, his face appears on the canvas, sketched by skillful pencil strokes.

To work, Ai-Da uses her "eyes", cameras that capture what is in front of her. Then an internal computer, and its machine learning technology, translate the stored information into coordinates that allow it to reproduce an image.

Other Ai-Da sketches adorn the walls of the art gallery held by Aidan Meller. There are also colorful paintings and sculptures but these works were made by humans from the sketches of Ai-Da.

Because Ai-Da can, for the moment, hold with his robotic arm only certain types of tools, like pencils, but not brushes.

- "The spirit of his time" -

Aidan Meller began dreaming of Ai-Da eight years ago and named her after the British pioneer of computer science, 19th century mathematician Ada Lovelace.

The common denominator between all great artists is to have "capture the spirit of their time," he justified: in the twenty-first century, this spirit is incarnated, according to him, in the artificial intelligence.

The design of this project began in 2017 and was completed in April with the help of Engineered Arts, a Cornwall robotics company, and researchers from Oxford and Leeds Universities.

They gave him the appearance of a woman, as Mr. Meller wanted: for this gallery director, the worlds of art and code are missing women.

Ai-Da "is a persona, an avatar, she is fiction, she is real," he enthuses.

Even though Ai-Da depends on technology, its production is also "highly creative," says Meller. "She has incredible technologies and skills to produce remarkable, innovative works," he insists, noting that not one of his works is identical.

Discrete on the total cost of the project, Mr. Meller said that the sale of the works of Ai-Da had allowed its financing: the entirety of the parts has already been yielded for one million books (1.13 million euros) ).

? 2019 AFP