Meet Botto, The AI 'Machine Artist' Who's Making Millions With Its Digital Creations

Botto, a decentralised autonomous artist, is making waves in the art world, raising fundamental questions about the nature of art, its creation, and ownership. Since its inception in 2021, Botto has garnered significant attention and amassed over $5 million, CNBC reported. Developed by software collective ElevenYellow and renowned German artist and computer programmer Mario Klingemann, Botto is a generative AI that creates original pieces of art using algorithms, machine learning, and large datasets of previous artworks.

Every week, Botto's AI engine produces 70,000 unique images. From this vast collection, 350 images are carefully curated and presented to the BottoDAO, a community of approximately 5,000 members. This decentralized autonomous organization then votes to select a single image to be auctioned off on the SuperRare non-fungible token (NFT) platform. Anyone can vote on the pieces Botto produces for free.

"If there's, kind of, a purpose of Botto, it's first to become recognized as an artist, and I think second is to become a successful artist. A successful artist, you can look at from a lot of different lenses: commercially successful, financially successful, culturally successful, spiritually successful — if it's having that kind of deep impact on people," Simon Hudson, Botto's operator and co-lead, told CNBC.

How Does Botto Create Art?

Botto uses a process known as generative art, where it learns from vast amounts of visual data (paintings, sculptures, digital artworks) and generates unique pieces based on the patterns it has analysed. Each artwork Botto creates is the result of a combination of pre-programmed creativity and an ongoing learning process that allows the AI to evolve and refine its style.

The AI is fed countless images from various artistic movements, such as surrealism, abstract art, cubism, and impressionism, enabling it to blend different styles and techniques. 

Rise of Botto in the Art World

Botto made headlines when it began selling its pieces at auction for eye-popping prices. In one of its most notable sales, a digital painting by Botto sold for over $1.3 million. This sale ignited a debate over the nature of creativity, authorship, and value in the art world. 

The Controversy and Future of AI in Art

While Botto's success has garnered attention, it's also sparked debates about the value of human creativity and the role of AI in artistic expression. Some critics argue that AI-generated art is devoid of genuine emotion or intentionality. Others say that AI is simply a tool that reflects the creativity of those who program it.