Art or technical feat: AI designs a sculpture combining Michelangelo, Rodin and Takamura

It is inspired by the works of five masters including Michelangelo, Rodin and Takamura: a Swedish museum exhibits a statue created exclusively thanks to artificial intelligence, called Impossible Statue. "It's a real statue created by five different masters who would never have been able to collaborate in real life," Pauliina Lunde, a spokeswoman for Sandvik, the company that designed the sculpture using three different AI software, told AFP.

Made of stainless steel, measuring 150 cm high and weighing 500 kg, the statue is on display by Stockholm's Museum of Technology, shaking up traditional conceptions around art. It represents a woman, half of whose body below the bust is covered by a kind of tunic, wearing a globe, made of bronze, with her left hand.

The idea was to create a clever mix between the styles of five sculptors, who each marked their era: Michelangelo (Italy, 1475-1564), Auguste Rodin (France, 1840-1917), Käthe Kollwitz (Germany, 1867-1945), Kotaro Takamura (Japan, 1883-1956) and Augusta Savage (United States, 1892-1962).

The artificial intelligence proposed several 2D images that it said reflected the cachet of five different sculptors, images then modeled in 3D. JONATHAN NACKSTRAND / AFP

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There's something wrong with its appearance, you can feel that it wasn't created by a human being," says Julia Olderius, an innovation manager at the museum. The viewer can perceive the musculature inspired by Michelangelo, or the hand, reminiscent of those created by Takamura. To achieve this, Sandvik engineers fed these systems abundant images of sculptures created by these artists. The artificial intelligence then proposed several 2D images that, according to it, reflected the stamp of each of these sculptors. "These 2D images were integrated by our engineers into a 3D model and it was only from there that we looked at manufacturing," she continues.

But is it art, or rather a technical feat? "Yes, I think it's art," says Julia Olderius, who believes that this appreciation belongs to the public. On the more general question of the irruption of artificial intelligence in this field, she displays the same optimism. "We shouldn't be afraid of what AI does with creativity, concept, art and design," she said. "I just think we have to adapt to a new future," where technology has a full place in creation and design.