Christie’s Faces Backlash for AI Art Auction Amid Copyright Controversy

Nearly 4,000 people have signed an open letter urging Christie’s New York to cancel its upcoming Augmented Intelligence sale, which is set to feature art created with AI. This marks the first time a major auction house will dedicate an entire sale to AI-generated art.

The letter, which began circulating the day after the sale’s announcement, highlights concerns that the AI programs used to create some of the pieces were trained on copyrighted works without permission, potentially exploiting human artists, as first reported by CNN.

The auction, which is expected to generate over $600,000, includes work by well-known artists such as Refik Anadol, Harold Cohen, Holly Herndon, Mat Dryhurst, Alexander Reben, and Claire Silver.

The sale, which features over 20 lots, spans five decades and includes a variety of works, including digitally native pieces like non-fungible tokens (NFTs), as well as light boxes, screens, sculptures, paintings, and prints. Bidding is set to begin on February 20 and end on March 5.

The letter’s authors argue that AI models used in the creation of some of the works were trained on copyrighted material without the consent of the original creators. “These models, and the companies behind them, exploit human artists, using their work without permission or payment to build commercial AI products that compete with them,” the letter states.

“Your support of these models, and the people who use them, rewards and further incentivizes AI companies’ mass theft of human artists’ work.”

CNN argues that the controversy stems from the use of copyrighted works to train generative AI models like Midjourney, Stable Diffusion, and Dall-E, which has led to lawsuits against technology companies.

While artists argue that their work is used without compensation, the companies defend their practices by citing fair use, which allows limited use of copyrighted material without permission.

Ed Newton-Rex, CEO of the non-profit Fairly Trained, which certifies generative AI companies for fairer data sourcing, criticized Christie’s for condoning the models.

I’ve looked at the public statements of the artists involved in the Christie’s AI art auction, and I think it’s likely that at least 9 or so of the works being sold use models trained on copyrighted work without permission.

I don’t blame the artists for this – they’re just using… https://t.co/1AKqBa5aS6

— Ed Newton-Rex (@ednewtonrex) February 10, 2025

Christie’s digital art specialists, Nicole Sales Giles and Sebastian Sanchez, are overseeing the auction.

In a statement to The Art Newspaper, the auction house defended the sale, stating, “The artists represented in this sale all have strong, existing multidisciplinary art practices, some recognised in leading museum collections. The works in this auction are using artificial intelligence to enhance their bodies of work.”

While some, like artist Sarp Kerem Yavuz, argue that AI-generated art is not theft.

“Most AI-generated images result from the combination of millions — literally millions — of images, which means no single artist can claim that an image of a meadow, a heroic knight, a cat or a flower was based on their specific creation,” he wrote in a statement, as reported by CNN.

“AI-generated images mimic human inspiration in many ways — they’re just more efficient at parsing through information,” he added.

Last month, the US Copyright Office ruled that artists can copyright works created with AI tools, but “purely AI-generated material” remains ineligible for protection.