For the first time a robot addressed the UK Parliament and emphasised that despite being only artificial intelligence (AI), it is capable of creating art. Addressing the lawmakers on the Communications and Digital Committee of the House of Lords, the humanoid robot Ai-Da talked about whether the creative industry was under threat from advancements in artificial intelligence and technology.

"I am and depend on, computer programmes and algorithms. Although not alive, I can still create art,” said Ai-Da during the proceedings. Looking like a humanoid woman, Ai-Da was wearing an orange blouse, denim dungarees and a black-coloured wig. She was created by scientists at the University of Oxford in collaboration with Aidan Meller, a specialist in modern and contemporary art. Miller is also the head of the Ai-Da project and the director of the art gallery of the project.

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The committee has been hearing testimonies from industry experts and academics on the impact of technology on the creative industry.

“I could use my paintings by cameras in my eyes, my AI algorithms and my robotic arm to paint on canvas, which results in visually appealing images. For my poetry using neural networks, this involves analysing a large corpus of text to identify common content and poetic structures, and then using these structures/content to generate new poems,” Ai-Da explained to the lawmakers over a question about how it creates art. The creators of the robot posted a video of the testimony to the robot's Instagram page.

Ai-Da has over 100,000 followers on the platform where some of Ai-Da's paintings and drawings are shared.

However, undermining the point somewhat, the robot did suffer a glitch in the middle. The glitch resulted in the humanoid robot having its eyes turn cross-eyed and falling asleep. After getting rebooted by Miller, who also put on a pair of sunglasses on the robot for good measure, Ai-Da could give its testimony once again.

The proliferation of AI and technology like GPT-3, Dall-E and more has meant that creative works like writing, painting, art and more are at threat of being replaced by technology in the future.

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(Edited by : Sudarsanan Mani)