Christie’s first AI art auction stirs up fierce debate

跨境电商创业日记

2025-10-14

21世纪学生英语报高三版第872期

As artificial intelligence (AI) becomes more common in everyday life, it’s also being used more in creative areas. From Feb 20 to March 5, Christie’s, a well-known auction house (拍卖行), held its first-ever sale dedicated to AI-generated artworks.

These artworks were created using machine learning. During the auction, an artist even used AI to create a live painting. As bids (出价) increased, the robot added more to the artwork.

According to the auction house’s description, the event aimed to explore “human agency in the age of AI within fine art”. However, the move angered many artists, with an online petition (请愿书) calling for the auction’s cancellation (取消) getting more than 6,400 signatures, reported NBC News.

The petition argues that many of the submitted works were created using AI models trained on copyrighted (有版权的) material without proper permission. As a result, many artists believe the sale contributes to the “mass theft of human artists’ work”.

As the BBC reported, art has long been seen as a uniquely human effort. However, as AI increasingly creates paintings and images that sell for thousands, people question what counts as a real “work of art” and what defines creativity.

Marcus du Sautoy, author of The Creativity Code: Art and Innovation in the Age of AI, suggests that the machine-learning processes used to train AI may themselves be a form of creativity. “Code exposed to data ... is able to learn ... and evolve (进化),” Du Sautoy told the BBC. “This means that there is a chance for the code to produce something that ... deserves to be called the creativity of the code.”

Still, some push back. In the case of the Christie’s auction, they said artists did far more than simply type in prompts (提示). They adjusted the data, improved models and actively shaped the end result. Throughout the process, AI functioned more as a “conversational partner”.

Do you think AI art marks the end of creativity or the beginning of a new movement?

随着人工智能（AI）在日常生活中的普及，它也被越来越多地应用于创意领域。2月20日至3月5日，著名拍卖行佳士得（Christie’s）举办了首场专门拍卖AI生成艺术品的拍卖会。

这些作品借助机器学习技术创作。拍卖期间，一位艺术家甚至现场用AI作画：随着竞价不断攀升，机器人实时在画布上增添内容。

佳士得在宣传中称，这场拍卖旨在探讨“AI时代美术中的人类主体性”。然而，此举激怒了众多艺术家。据NBC报道，一份在线请愿书呼吁取消拍卖，已征集到超过6,400个签名。

请愿书指出，许多参展作品所用的AI模型，是在未获正式授权的情况下，基于受版权保护的材料训练而成。因此，不少艺术家认为这次拍卖无异于“对人类艺术作品的大规模盗窃”。

BBC评论称，艺术长久以来被视为人类独有的领域。如今，AI创作的画作和图像却能以数千美元成交，人们开始质疑：什么才算真正的“艺术品”？创造力又该如何定义？

《创造力代码：AI时代的艺术与创新》作者马库斯·杜·萨托伊（Marcus du Sautoy）提出，用于训练AI的机器学习过程本身或许就是一种创造力。“代码接触数据……能够学习……并进化，”他告诉BBC，“这意味着代码有机会产出某种成果，足以被称为代码的创造力。”

当然，也有人强烈反对。针对佳士得拍卖，他们强调艺术家绝非简单输入提示词，而是调整数据、优化模型，并积极塑造最终成果。在整个过程中，AI更像是一位“对话伙伴”。

你认为AI艺术标志着创造力的终结，还是一场新运动的起点？