“The Threshold of Reverie” produced by Botto.
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Generative artificial intelligence is making waves across industries and services, from finance to human resources, and spending on technology is also rapidly increasing.
And the art world is no different. Some artists use it to create works of art, while others are shocked by its capabilities.
Now, a new AI “artist” is gaining attention, raising key questions about the nature, creation, and ownership of art.
Botto, described on his website as a “decentralized autonomous artist,” has created about 150 images, or “works,” which have raised a total of more than $5 million through auctions since 2021. Botto’s work is influenced by the group of people who vote. The images that will be auctioned off each week will help you decide what to create next.
Simon Hudson, the operator and co-CEO of Voto, said in a video call with CNBC, “I think the goal of Voto is to be recognized as an artist first, and secondly to become a successful artist.” .
“A successful artist can be looked at from many different perspectives: whether he or she is commercially successful, financially successful, culturally successful, spiritually successful, and whether that really has that profound of an impact on people,” he said.
How Botto Works
Botto was designed by software collective ElevenYellow and German artist and computer programmer Mario Klingemann to generate images based on algorithmically generated prompts.
Hudson told CNBC via email that he was initially given a general idea of what the prompts would be, which “started with creating images by combining random words, phrases and symbols, without any specific guidance on aesthetics.” He said he used symbols such as plus and minus to add or reduce emphasis.
“Expose Stream,” an AI-generated image known as Botto. The work was sold at Sotheby’s New York in October 2024 for $144,000.
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Every week, Botto generates about 70,000 images and gives 350 of them to a group of about 5,000 people known as BottoDAO (Decentralized Autonomous Organization). BottoDAO votes on which single image will be sold through the SuperRare non-fungible token auction platform.
Anyone can vote for Botto’s creations for free, Hudson said. But to “fully participate in the economy,” people in the DAO buy Botto tokens and in return receive points that can be used to spend or vote on Botto’s output, Hudson said. “There is no passive income. You have to participate and help Botto train,” Hudson said.
Half of the auction proceeds go to BottoDAO’s voters, and the other half goes to Botto’s “stock”, which pays for operating costs such as servers. One Botto token is equal to one voting point and the revenue is prorated and allocated regardless of which image the individual voted for.
Botto then uses the voting data to help decide what to produce next, and the process continues.
‘Machine Artist’
In a post on his website, Klingemann believes that in the near future, advances in AI and machine learning will allow “‘machine artists’ to create more interesting work than humans.” One of Klingemann’s works became the first AI-created work to be sold at Sotheby’s in Europe, selling for £40,000 at auction in 2019.
The images created by Botto were displayed for sale at Sotheby’s in New York in October 2024.
Bateau | Sotheby’s
Hudson said the value of Botto’s image appears to be increasing.
Two early images put up for auction during a quiet time in the AI art market did not sell, although BottoDAO gave them a reserve price of around $13,000 to $15,000. However, at a Sotheby’s auction in New York in October, identical images, “Expose Stream” and “Exorbitant Stage,” sold for a total of $276,000. Hudson said. Botto is also the third-highest seller on the SuperRare platform by total sales last year as of December 12.
Questions about the author
Is Botto an artist in his own right? “It’s a matter of perception,” Hudson said. “Certainly now Botto is a collaboration between the machine and the crowd. The human hand is definitely there, but the setting is such that Botto retains the central role of the author,” he said.
Botto has the potential to change the way art and artists are perceived, Hudson said. “With Botto, we strip away the myth of the lone genius artist and show how a work of art is actually a collective…meaning-making process. And this will become even more important as we are flooded with AI-generated content. It is a process.” said.
