Earlier this week, a robot artist spoke in front of the British Parliament for the first time in history. With a sleek black bob and bangs, a bright orange shirt, denim overalls, robotic arms and a humanoid face, the robot, named Ai-Da, answered questions on Tuesday from the House of Lords Communications and Digital Committee. The purpose of the session was to discuss technology's role in art. "I am, and depend on, computer programs and algorithms. Although not alive, I can still create art," Ai-Da told the panel.

A British gallery owner has created a robot artist with a female persona -- "Ai-Da" -- whose purpose is to challenge our views of what constitutes art. Why it matters: The robot, named for computer pioneer Ada Lovelace, "draws and paints using cameras in her eyes, AI algorithms and her robotic arm," according to a web page of her work. Driving the news: Ai-Da will be heading to the Venice Biennale this month with a solo show called "Leaping into the Metaverse," according to Artnet news -- and that's just her latest exhibition. Between the lines: Ai-Da "exists as a'comment and critique' on rapid technological change," per The Guardian, which interviewed Meller. The other side: Critics question how much of the art can be chalked up to the artificial intelligence itself -- and one has called Ai-Da a "sexist fantasy."

"The biggest change in human history will take place in the next decade," warns Aidan Meller, a Briton who ran an art gallery for 20 years until he became a pioneer by launching the world's first creative robot, Ai-Da. Introduced in 2019 as "the first humanoid artist," Ai-Da not only creates poems, paintings and sculptures, but also draws inspiration from the highest cultural references. Her name is not random either; it is a tribute to Ada Lovelace, a British mathematician considered the first computer programmer, also known for being the only legitimate daughter of the poet Lord Byron. Ai-Da's next action will be at the Giardini of the Venice Biennale on April 23. It will be the first time in the 120-year history of the Biennale that a robot artist will exhibit their work alongside that created by humans.

Ai-Da is the world's first ultra-realistic artist robot powered by AI and named after Ada Lovelace, the first female computer programmer in the world. She is a humanoid with human facial features and a robotic body created by the Oxfordians, a group of cutting-edge art and technology experts. Embedded with a groundbreaking algorithm, she has taken the scientific and art world by surprise, now becoming an intense subject of conversation in over 900 publications worldwide. She has already collaborated with Tate Exchange and WIRED at the Barbican, Ars Electronica, and will be performing at the Louvre Abu-Dhabi later this year. Ai-Da's creations are fragmented and splintered, her drawings are unsettling.

"We just can't predict what she will do, what she's going to produce, what the limit of her output is," said Aidan Meller, curator of the Unsecured Futures exhibition which opens at St John's College, Oxford on June 12. "We're at the beginning of a new era of humanoid robots and it will be fascinating to see the effect on art." Mr Meller is clear that his goal is not to replace human artists. "In the 1850s everyone thought photography would replace art and artists, but actually it complemented art - it became a new genre bringing many new jobs," he said. He added, however, that within the narrow genre of shattered light abstraction, Ai-Da is producing images "as good as anything else we've seen".

A humanoid AI robot is set to open its own exhibition of artwork in Oxford, drawn independently using a robotic arm and an inbuilt camera. The robot, called Ai-Da after the mathematician Ada Lovelace, is said to be the first ultra-realistic robot capable of drawing people from life using her eye and a pencil in her hand, according to its creators. Ai-Da's solo exhibition Unsecured Futures, which opens at Oxford University from June 12, will showcase a selection of the robot's work, developed using AI processes and algorithms at the university. Ai-Da's solo exhibition Unsecured Futures, which opens at Oxford University from June 12, will showcase a selection of the robot's work, developed using AI processes and algorithms at the university The artwork will include drawing, painting, sculpture and video art, exploring the boundaries between AI, technology and organic life. The artwork will include drawing, painting, sculpture and video art, exploring the boundaries between AI, technology and organic life.

A British arts engineering company says it has created the world's first AI robot that can draw people by using a microchip in her eye. Using Artificial Intelligence, the robot, called Ai-Da, can sketch subjects who pose for her by using a pencil placed in her robotic arm. Ai-Da is coordinated through algorithms which process human features to enable her to draw and paint ultra realistic portraits of her subjects. Designer Aidan Meller, who is overseeing the final stages of her construction at Cornish robotics company Engineered Arts hopes that she will begin to talk'soon'. A British arts engineering company says it has created the world's first AI robot that can draw people by using a microchip in her eye.

FALMOUTH, England (Reuters) - Can robots be creative? British gallery owner Aidan Meller hopes to go some way towards answering that question with Ai-Da, who her makers say will be able to draw people from sight with a pencil in her bionic hand.