British humanoid robot artist Ai-Da, capable of creating paintings and sculptures, was detained at Egyptian customs. Ai-Da was taken to the opening day at the pyramids of Giza, but vigilant border guards mistook her for an espionage device and kept her in isolation for 10 days, along with the sculpture she created. Diplomats had to intervene in the matter.
Ai-Da is the world's first robot that “creates and is contemporary art.” Its creator is British gallerist Aiden Moeller.
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Ai-Da and the sculpture she created were taken to Giza to participate in the Forever is Now exhibition organized by Art D'Egypt. This will be the first ever exhibition of contemporary art against the backdrop of the pyramids in Giza. Together with Ai-Da, they confiscated a clay sculpture she created based on a robot's interpretation of the Sphinx riddle.
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It is not entirely clear what questions the customs officers have about the robot. It is only clear that they saw a “security threat” in the robot. There is a version that they considered Ai-Da to be part of some kind of espionage scheme, but the border service did not make any official statements.
According to Meller, at first the border guards did not like that the robot was equipped with a modem. Then their attention was attracted by cameras mounted in her eyes.
“I could have removed the modem, but there was no way to rip out her eyes,” he says.
“The British ambassador worked all night to get her released, but the deadlines are already running out,” Meller told the Times newspaper shortly before the robot was returned to him.
“Let me be very clear. She's not a spy. People are afraid of robots, I understand that. But this whole situation is full of irony, because the point of Ai-Da is to draw attention to the malicious use of technological progress. that she's a robot. She'd probably like the irony, “commented the creator of Ai-Da.
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Created by Ai-Da sculpture bee.
The robot artist could not appreciate the irony, since she was disconnected from the network throughout the entire scandal. She was released late Wednesday night, and her sculpture was returned. The opening of the exhibition with her participation should take place on Thursday.
