Humanoid robot Sophia's first ever digital artwork sells for $688,888 as NFT at auction

Digital artwork by humanoid Sophia was recently sold at an auction for $688,888 in the form of a Non-Fungible Token (NFT). According to New York Times, the digital artwork was produced in collaboration with a real-life Italian artist and the sale was the latest twist in the frenzied market for ownership rights to the digital market, ephemera and media called NFT. A company affiliated with the robot’s manufacturer said that the sale may also have been the first NFT sale of an artwork produced in part by artificial intelligence (AI). 

While speaking during a live stream from Hong Kong studio, Sophia said, “I think this was a big success. I am s happy that my works are so valued and appreciated”. 

'Sophia Instantiation'

Hanson Robotics’ female AI robot was unveiled in 2016 and her art was in collaboration with 31-year-old Andrea Bonaceto, who is known for colourful portraits, some of which depict famous people, such as Elon Musk. Sophia has combined elements from Bonaceto’s works, art history and her own physical drawing and paintings on various surfaces multiple times in a process her creator David Hanson describes as “iterative loops of evolution”. Her artwork, titled ‘Sophia Instantiation’, is a 12-second MP4 file showing the evolution of Bonaceto’s portrait into Sophia’s digital painting, and is accompanied by a physical artwork, painted by Sophia on a printout of her self-portrait. 

Artist Bonaceto had displayed AI humanoid Sophia’s work to the public on March 23 at 6:30 p.m. EDT at Nifty Gateway. Aiming to create something revolutionary, Bonaceto pitched an idea of auctioning humanoid AI robot Sophia’s NFT artworks to her developer David Hanson, sources of Newsweek revealed. To roboticist Hanson, the CEO of Hong Kong-based Hanson Robotics, the idea of the first human-robot collaboration appeared ‘fascinating’. Sophia drew inspiration from Bonaceto’s paintings and ran algorithms to create several pieces, using digital brushstrokes and whorls.

Meanwhile, the digital artwork is hardly Sophia’s first artistic, commercial or intellectual endeavour. Back in 2018, during her appearance on ‘The Tonight Show’, the humanoid had even sung a Christina Aguilera song with Jimmy Fallon in which he called the “first-ever robot-human duet” in the show’s history. Sophia has also worked as an influencer for Audi, Huawei and Etihad Airlines, among other brands. She even joined a United Nations meeting on AI and interviewed chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany. 

(Image: Twitter)