Robot Art Critic Deciphers Abstract Art

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With automation and deep learning set to take major steps forward in the coming decade, there’s a lot of folks who have legitimate concerns about their livelihoods potentially being stolen away by robots. Among those who probably aren’t very worried are art critics. After all, how could a machine astutely analyze art and abstractions to such a degree that they match the human eye? There’s not much less technical than art interpretatino, right?

Wrong. Start typing those résumés, art critics. The robots are coming for you too.

From Dazed Digital:

“The Novice Art Blogger, a Tumblr page set up by Matthew Plummer Fernandez. The British-Colombian artist programmed a bot with deep learning algorithms to analyse art; so instead of an overarticulate critic rambling about praxis, you get a review that gets down to the nitty-gritty about what exactly you see in front of you.”

If you take a look at the article you can see that the Novice Art Blogger (let’s call it NAB) isn’t exactly graceful in its analysis. It really just tries to explain what it thinks it sees (which, I suppose, isn’t much different from most art criticism). What’s most interesting here is that NAB may represent an early step toward an advanced form of AI capable of thinking artistically. That’s an exciting prospect for everyone except perhaps art critics.

Take a look at the linked story below for an interview with NAB’s creator, the aforementioned Matthew Plummer Fernandez. It’s worth the read.