Jeff Koons on why he has drawn a red line on AI in art: 'I don't want to be lazy'

His hands-off approach to the production of his famous balloon dogs and stainless steel rabbits has been criticised in the past but Jeff Koons, the world's most expensive artist, has drawn a red-line: "I wouldn't – for my own base work – be looking at AI to be developing my work." The potential and the risks of artificial intelligence is perhaps the hottest topic in the artistic world, with deep-learning models now able to replicate styles and produce unique compositions on request. It would appear to be a heaven-sent development for Koons, who was speaking to the Guardian at the launch of Reflections, a joint exhibition of his works alongside those of Pablo Picasso at the Alhambra in Granada. Koons's reliance on teams of craftspeople and cutting-edge technology in the making of his pieces prompted the Collector magazine last year to ask: "Is Jeff Koons an actual artist?" Exploiting technological advances is what he does.