This shows that people are interested in buying nonfungible tokens, which are also called NFTs. In 2021, they sold $25 billion worth. If you want to buy art NFTs, Christie’s sold more than $93 million worth of them at its fourth annual Art+Tech Summit in August of last year.
Crypto art is still important, but it seems like most of it is made up of cartoons and memes. Projects like CryptoPunks and Bored Ape Yacht Club have taken the lead. Because these projects have been the most successful, there is now a new group of NFTs that use new technology and people’s imaginations.
AI-generative NFTs become a new art genre
These “AI-generative NFTs” are becoming more and more popular in the art world, as well as with people who are interested in new technologies like artificial intelligence, blockchain, and the Metaverse. GANs are usually used to make AI-generated NFTs. These are algorithms that use computers to use data to train models to make machine-made images that look like art.
An AI-collaborative artist told CoinNewsDaily that NFT art made with AI is a new genre. She said that the basic idea is that art is made with some kind of artificial intelligence, like GAN:
“There are code-heavy options and completely code-free tools that anyone can work with. I use the latter in my work. Being able to work with an AI to bring your ideas to life is an experience like no other, it augments creativity in a way that feels like freedom, a type of play you haven’t experienced since you were a child.”
Silver said that in order to make AI-generated NFTs, she uses a tool called “Eponym.” The Eponym tool was made by the AI-generated art company, Art AI. It lets users make art based on the text of their choice and then sell their creations on the largest NFT market, OpenSea.
Eyal Fisher, the co-founder of Art AI, told me that Eponym allows anyone to turn any phrase into a unique NFT art piece that will be forever etched into the Ethereum blockchain as a picture.
Fisher said that Eponym was made with algorithms for personalized art that let people make art by interacting with a computer. A project called “Eponym” is a joint NFT project. Users get to it by going to the website and typing any word or phrase into a text box. The AI then creates art based on the text that is typed in.
As a follow-up, Fisher said that each text prompt can only be made once. A man said there is only one word for “Bitcoin.”
Fisher said that the first Eponym project sold out on OpenSea in less than an hour, making it one of the largest collaborative art projects made by 3,500 different artists. This is a way to make art that doesn’t come from one place. Because they made the art, people who own Eponyms want to show it off.
As with Eponym, Metascapes is a project that was made by three photographers who wanted to combine human expression with computer algorithms. It lets people make art NFTs. There are 3,333 rare AI-generated NFTs in the project called Metascapes, one of the photographers behind it told Cointelegraph. The images were taken around the world and used to make NFTs. Like Eponym, Metascapes uses AI algorithms to make nature-themed NFTs. First Metascapes will be made by the end of this month or the beginning of February, says Newburn.
A group of people who work on Metascapes, which is made by an AI called Versus Labs, said that the art in each collection is made by training data to recognize real-world images.
“We have images and labels for our photographs, which are called ‘training data.’ When it’s time to generate the output model, we put in a label that tells the model what type of images to put out. For example, ice caves and volcanoes were two categories the photographers have done work for in the past, but this wasn’t a majority of the input data, so we wanted to make sure the output contained examples of ice caves and volcanoes.”
In addition, Versus Labs said Metascapes’ AI learns as it goes. They said the generator that outputs data gets better over time because two different models of learning are being used at the same time. The generator starts out with a lot of random noise. The discriminator model tells the generator how to improve the output so that it looks more like the training data. This cycle keeps going, ensuring that both models get better over time.
AI is used to make the images that the Metascapes team makes. This is because everything that has to do with NFTs and Web3 is made by machines, computers, and code.
“We decided to collaborate with a machine to create an entirely new world in the Metaverse. Everyone now is buying PFP avatars, but in our case, people will get a unique piece of land in the Metaverse.”
AI’s impact on artists and NFT collectors
AI-created NFTs are still a new idea, but this model has already had an impact on both artists and people who buy NFTs. “Kami was Here,” for example, said that working with AI has changed the role of the human artist in a big way.
“The human needs the algorithm and the algorithm needs the human. For me, this new role meant data collection, writing code, curation, the inspiration to create a theme and, most of all, ‘coaching’ an algorithm. The process is dynamic and the outcome collaborative.”
Generative art NFTs are different from other types of non-fungible tokens because each result is unique because it is born from an algorithm. “Generative art looks into the future of a society that is hardwired for human-computer interaction,” the artist said.
Furthermore, Fisher said that AI-generated images have made NFTs more accessible and people want to own them more. People who buy and collect NFTs are also making their own things. Many of our users are making their first NFTs.” Because most people in our community aren’t professional artists, this is very rare.
Dr. Alex Alter, the lead AI scientist for Altered State Machine, a protocol that uses NFT intelligence to make smart AI agents, said that not only do AI-generated NFTs look unique, but they also make people feel more abstract. There isn’t a single area in any of the AI works that looks like this. Also, in the future, people will be able to make AI art with DAOs and chatbots. This is more than other NFTs can do today.
Can AI be trusted to create meaningful NFTs?
AI-generated NFTs have a lot of potential, but the question of whether or not AI can be trusted to make good images based on text or photos is still up in the air.
Such as, Newburn said that Metascapes carefully picks each of their collections. There are tens of thousands of images that our AI team has made. Some of these won’t be shown in our mints. Then, if we don’t like the category, we figure out how to make it better and try again. Our AI has learned from a lot of different tests.
There are also different ways to make AI-based NFTs. For example, Fisher said that Eponym has two versions of its generator available to the public. One is on the company’s Discord channel as a chatbot, and the other is a private link that has more complex algorithms that can make more advanced images. Kaima added that some AI art can be made in just a few minutes, while others take a lot longer:
“There are free apps now like Wombo that can easily generate images. It’s simple for people to create. On the other hand, AI art can also take months to build and train your algorithms, collect input data and pay for processing power. AI art can also be very resource intensive and personalized.”
Even if AI-generated NFTs don’t change the way things work, they’re going to be a big deal in the future. In Dr. Alter’s words, AI-generated art has already sold a lot on OpenSea, and he says that the market will keep growing this year, as well. He said that AI-generated NFTs will be a big part of why this is going to happen. Eventually, people will be able to own an NFT (artist AI) or use a DAO AI to make art with that AI artist.
Also, the rise of the Metaverse should lead to the growth of AI-based NFTs, as well. Fisher, for example, said that Eponym’s next project will be about interactive virtual identities. Users will be able to use their own portraits to make 3D avatars and move them with artificial intelligence. It’s our plan to use AI that will allow avatars to take different shapes that will work in metaverse environments like Sandbox. In February, the company will be adding more algorithms that will let users make their own avatars.
