A search for “AI art” may be a search for works, tools, history or criticism. This archive addresses art-historical questions: how artificial intelligence enters artistic production and display, how practitioners describe their work, and how positions on labour, permission and artistic value take shape.
What does AI art refer to?
Research needs to identify the particular practice rather than group everything that has used AI into one category. Rule-based systems devised by artists, training or adapting models, image generation, editing and curatorial selection can be examined separately. A work’s medium, production process and its maker’s account explain its relationship to AI more precisely than a single label.
How can “Can AI make art?” become a research question?
Break the value judgment into questions that can be investigated: who receives credit, whose labour is visible, how does a work enter a competition or exhibition, and which rules guide an institution’s response? The cases below support comparisons of award refusals, open letters, platform policies and debates over copyright scope. Recording a position is not an endorsement or a judgment on the artistic value of every AI-related work.
How does AI art history differ from using AI to study art history?
The former studies AI-related artistic practices and their institutional, social and technical contexts. The latter uses computational methods to analyse, retrieve or attribute artworks. They may overlap, but their questions and evidence differ. This archive’s genealogy and event records primarily approach the former, reading technical accounts alongside concrete artistic actions.
This archive-written research guide includes AI-assisted Chinese and English texts awaiting independent human review. Check specific historical claims and rights information against each record’s original-language sources.
Cases & events: begin with the evidence
Boris Eldagsen / PSEUDOMNESIA award-refusal intervention ↗
2023-04-13 · United Kingdom / Germany
Eldagsen issues a statement declining a Sony photography award
In a statement dated April 13, Eldagsen declines the Open competition’s Creative category award and calls for discussion of boundaries between AI images and photography.
Christie’s / Augmented Intelligence and open letter ↗
2025-02-07 · United States
Christie’s announces the Augmented Intelligence exhibition and sale
Christie’s announces an AI-art exhibition and sale from February 20 to March 5, covering varied media and creative approaches.
2025-02-08 · United States / Global / online
Artists’ open letter calls for cancellation of Christie’s AI auction
An open letter asks Christie’s to cancel the auction, alleging that some models used copyrighted works without permission.
Zarya of the Dawn / Review of comic copyright scope ↗
2023-02-21 · United States
Copyright Office notifies a narrower Zarya registration
The Copyright Office confirms protection for the author’s text and selection, coordination and arrangement of text and images, excluding Midjourney-generated images. It says a narrower certificate will be issued, retaining the effective date of 2022-09-15.
Procreate / Statement against introducing generative AI ↗
2024-08-18 · Australia / Japan
Procreate Japan states it will not introduce generative AI, as quoted in reporting
An official-account post embedded by GIGAZINE shows Procreate Japan communicating its no-generative-AI position on August 18. The current official site continues to state “No generative AI.”
Further reading & citation
This page is a selection and reading path, not an exhaustive history. Cite the relevant record and original source for specific claims. To cite this guide, give its title, URL and access date.
Explore the full event chronology ↗