In 2018, Christie’s held its first auction for a work of art produced by artificial intelligence (AI), which sold for US$432,500.

But Hong Kong-based cross-media artist Victor Wong didn’t think the painting — which looks like a blurry oil painting of a man — was anything that revolutionary. “It totally mimics human work, it wasn’t something different,” he said.

So the creative — who has a degree in electrical engineering and whose work spans movie special effects, art tech installations, and sculpture, among other art forms — decided to make something unique.

His creation, AI Gemini, is an AI-driven robot that creates traditional Chinese landscape paintings — the “first-ever artificial intelligence ink artist in the world,” according to 3812 Gallery, which represents Wong.

With no relation to Google’s generative AI chatbot of the same name, AI Gemini uses a robotic arm, purchased online and re-programmed, with an attached paintbrush. An algorithm interprets data sets of Wong’s choosing, directing the robotic arm to paint mountain contours to form a landscape on Xuan paper, a thin rice paper traditionally used for painting.

The application of colors is based on deep learning and training in traditional ink landscape painting, and the amount of water used depends on changes in humidity, Wong explains. It takes about eight to 10 hours to produce a painting that’s one meter tall and wide.

Since Wong launched AI Gemini, he’s held exhibitions in Hong Kong, Shanghai, Taipei, and London. He says his paintings have sold for around US$20,000 to individual collectors, and he’s worked on projects for companies like Hong Kong’s flagship airline Cathay Pacific.

Ink landscape paintings date back thousands of years in China. Yet Wong says that by combining the ideas of humans with the capabilities of technology, he hopes to create “something that hasn’t been seen before.”

The use of AI to create artwork is controversial. Earlier this year, more than 6,500 people signed an open letter calling on Christie’s New York to cancel a sale dedicated solely to art created with the technology — the first of its kind for a major auction house. The sale, which went ahead, brought in US$729,000.

Critics say that AI art lacks originality and artists complain that it’s based on copyrighted images.

Wong doesn’t directly use AI-generated images. Instead of “training AI Gemini to copy the masters’ artwork,” Wong says he wrote an algorithm to mimic how the master’s work.

He says that the paintings he and AI Gemini create are original but adds that people attending his exhibitions will still sometimes exclaim, “It’s not art!”

“AI has become a part of life, and people still cannot really accept it, especially when it comes to art,” says Wong. But, he adds: “You cannot escape AI.”

2018年，佳士得拍卖行首次上拍人工智能创作的艺术品，该作品最终以43.25万美元成交。但香港跨媒体艺术家黄宏达认为，这幅模糊的男性肖像油画并无革命性突破：“它完全在模仿人类作品，毫无新意”。

这位拥有电子工程学位、涉足电影特效、科技艺术装置及雕塑等多领域的创意人，决定打造真正独特的作品。他创造的 “AI双子星”是一个能创作传统山水画的AI机器人，其代理画廊3812称其为“全球首位人工智能水墨艺术家”。

与谷歌的同名AI聊天机器人无关，这款AI双子星由网购的机械臂改造而成，通过算法解析黄宏达精选的数据集，指挥加装毛笔的机械臂在宣纸上勾勒山峦轮廓。黄宏达解释，墨色运用基于深度学习与传统水墨画训练，用水量则随湿度变化调整，每幅一米见方的作品需耗时8至10小时。

自推出以来，AI双子星作品已在香港、上海、台北和伦敦展出。黄宏达透露作品以约2万美元单价被私人藏家收藏，并为国泰航空等企业创作项目。

尽管水墨山水画在中国有数千年历史，但黄宏达希望通过人机协作创造“前所未见之物”。AI艺术引发巨大争议 —— 今年初6500人联署要求佳士得取消纽约首场AI艺术专场拍卖（最终成交72.9万美元）。批评者认为AI艺术缺乏原创性，艺术家指责其剽窃受版权保护的图像。

黄宏达并未直接使用AI生成图像，而是编写算法模拟大师笔法。他强调其作品具有原创性，但展览中仍有人质疑“这不是艺术！”。

对此他表示：“AI已成为生活的一部分，但人们尤其难以接受它涉足艺术领域。然而，我们已无处可逃。”(Translated by DeepSeek)