Christie's First AI Art Auction Sparks Controversy: $728K Sales Amidst Artist Protests

Christie's held its first-ever AI art auction, generating $728,784 in sales and attracting a young audience. However, the auction faced protests from over 5,600 artists who claim AI models were trained on copyrighted works without permission, exploiting human artists. Christie's responded that art often builds upon previous works and that the auction aimed to explore the digital art space. Refik Anadol's 'Machine Hallucinations – ISS Dreams – A' fetched the highest price at $277,200.