She was hidden beneath one of Pablo Picasso’s most famous works for more than a century.
However, an artificial intelligence-powered software taught to paint like the great artist has now brought the nude image of a crouching woman to life. During a time when resources were short, Picasso is thought to have unwillingly painted over the piece. Its re-creation has garnered worldwide attention and praise, but it has also left the two students behind the AI project in legal hot water, underlining the difficulties that come with attempting to give old art new life through technology.
The topic of legal and cultural ownership, as well as the ethics of employing modern technology to find, duplicate, or complete works of art long after their original authors have died, are at the center of this conundrum.
Recent weeks have pushed the issue to the fore, with Picasso’s “The Lonesome Crouching Nude,” as the long-hidden artwork has been nicknamed, and Beethoven’s unfinished 10th symphony.
AI experts Anthony Bourached and George Cann were set to present their restoration of Picasso’s secret painting earlier this month. After being X-rayed in 2010, the original was discovered hiding beneath Picasso’s 1903 masterpiece ‘The Blind Man’s Meal.’
Bourached and Cann, both Ph.D. researchers at the University College London in the United Kingdom, attempted to recreate the hidden nude by teaching AI to mimic Picasso’s brushstrokes using an algorithm that analyzed dozens of his previous works.
The AI was able to recreate a rendition of the artwork using the 2010 X-ray as a starting point, which was then given texture and printed onto canvas using three-dimensional printing technology.
In a phone interview with NBC News on Oct. 12, a day before the sculpture was supposed to be shown at the Deep AI Art Fair in London, Bourached described their work as a “new frontier” for the application of AI in the art world.
According to him, art is a way of “documenting knowledge” about specific times in time, such as in an artist’s life. “I believe this is a new frontier.” I believe that the future of AI will help us better comprehend ourselves as a civilization.”
However, later that evening, the duo received a letter from representatives of Picasso’s estate in the United Kingdom demanding that the unveiling be canceled and that any use of Picasso’s works be discontinued, citing an “infringement of rights.”
