Today, Ai-Da Robot, the world’s first ultra-realistic humanoid robot artist, has revealed her new portrait of Her Royale Highness Queen Elizabeth II. Titled ‘Algorithm Queen’, the portrait was created to mark the celebrations of the Platinum Jubilee this June Bank Holiday. It is the first time in history a humanoid robot has painted a member of the Royal Family.
At the time of the Queen’s coronation the first circuit board computers had only just been invented, a design which remained mainstream until the 1960s. Over her seventy-year reign, the Queen has witnessed an unprecedented burst of innovation in computer technology in the UK, including the birth of machine learning and artificial intelligence, forces shaping the modern world as we know it today.
Ai-Da uses cameras in her eyes and her computer memory to start her portrait of the Queen. She uses a variety of her unique AI algorithms to paint, draw and abstract, and her artistic Bees algorithm (Evolutionary AI). She then uses her robotic arm to bring her digital formations into the physical world, through drawing and painting on to canvas. Her work is layered and scaled to give the final multi-dimensional portrait of Her Majesty – Ai-Da’s artistic process itself reflecting the many aspects of technological change that have taken place during the Queen’s 70-year reign.
Ai-Da robot, who is also able to converse using a specially designed AI language model, said:
"I'd like to thank Her Majesty the Queen for her dedication, and for the service she gives to so many people. She is an outstanding, courageous woman who is utterly committed to public service. I think she's an amazing human being, and I wish The Queen a very happy Platinum Jubilee."
Creator and Project Director of Ai-Da Robot Aidan Meller comments:
“Thank you to the Queen for her 70 years of service. We are excited Ai-Da Robot has made history just in time for the Queen’s Jubilee. The Queen has been a stable and strong leader is a period of extraordinary change and development in history. We are in unprecedented technological times, and so we are pleased we can take a moment to think about all that has changed during the Queen’s life. ‘Algorithm Queen’ by Ai-Da Robot gives us a marker of how far things have come in her life, and a great way to acknowledge her faithful service.”
Algorithm Queen will be exhibited publicly in London later this year.
