Some artists, museums embrace AI art; others call it a gimmick | 60 Minutes

AI Art: A New Medium or Theft?00:04

When thinking about art creation, traditional images include painters, photographers, or sculptors in studios. Now, a person uses a computer screen with artificial intelligence and data to create visuals. Prestigious museums, critics, and auction houses debate if this is art. Some artists call AI a revolutionary new medium; others call it theft.

Meeting Rafi Anodol in Los Angeles00:31

Visited Rafi Anodol, 40-year-old Turkish American artist, pioneer in AI art, at his LA studio. Immersive space with images created using AI: hypnotic flow of shapes and colors morphing on mirrors and LED screens, surrounded by viewers. Not real birds. Feels like Alice in Wonderland in Studio 54. Device around neck pumps AI-generated scents like rain and flowers. Eventually, device will monitor vital statistics like heartbeat to change art in real time.

I don't think so. I feel like it's a new form of art like we are discovering a new place that never been before.

Scale and Philosophy of Anodol's Work02:00

Anodol's massive images projected on Las Vegas Sphere, Walt Disney Concert Hall facade in Los Angeles, Antonio Gaudi's Casa Batllo in Barcelona.

When people ask you what you do, what do you say? So, I'm a media artist, and I'm using data and AI in my work. More than 16 years, I paint with a thinking brush.

Thinking brush: information and data around us has its own voice. Does not do traditional painting, drawing, sculpting. Computes and imagines geometrically in mind's eye.