How three French students used borrowed code to put the first AI portrait in Christie's

On Friday, October 25th, Christie's will conduct a very unusual sale. As part of a three-day Prints & Multiples event, it's auctioning off the Portrait of Edmond Belamy, a canvas in a gold frame that shows the smudged figure of what looks like an 18th century gentleman. It's expected to fetch a modest price, somewhere between $7,000 and $10,000, but the artwork's distinguishing feature is that it was "created by an artificial intelligence," says Christie's. "And when it goes under the hammer, [it] will signal the arrival of AI art on the world auction stage." But for members of the burgeoning AI art community, there's another attribute that sets the Portrait of Edmond Belamy apart: it's a knock-off. The print was created by Obvious, a trio of 25-year-old French students whose goal is to "explain and democratize" AI through art.