Humanoid robot Sophia successfully sold a hand-painted "self-portrait" for over ₹5 crore in the form of a Non-Fungible Token (NFT), marking the world’s first sale of such pieces created jointly with artificial intelligence (AI).
NFT is a digital signature authenticated by blockchain that certifies the ownership and originality of items. It has become the latest investment craze, with one digital artwork--a collage of 5,000 individual images by Beeple--selling for nearly $70 million earlier this month.
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Before taking up the role of a digital artist, Sophia had already established herself as an activist, a musician, and a fashionista five years since she was activated by the Hong Kong-based Hanson Robotics.
Her recent artwork is created in collaboration with the 31-year-old Italian artist Andrea Bonaceto, who is known for his colourful portraits and is founding partner at blockchain investment firm Eterna Capital.
Titled “Sophia Instantiation”, the piece comes in the form of a 12-second MP4 file that shows the evolution of Bonaceto’s portrait into Sophia’s digital painting. It comes accompanied with a physical artwork, painted by Sophia on a printout of her self-portrait.
Reuters reported that Sophia combined elements from Bonaceto’s works, art history and her own physical drawings or paintings on various surfaces multiple times. The artwork is essentially her interpretations of her own face.