AI-Generated Art: Just Passing Through, or Here to Stay?

By Robert Read, Head of Art and Private Client, Hiscox

With AI-generated art now regularly selling for six-figure sums, the question many collectors and enthusiasts are asking is: what should they really be concerned about when buying or investing in this rapidly expanding medium?

The 2018 sale of Edmond de Belamy, an AI-generated portrait by Paris-based collective Obvious, was a pivotal moment. Fetching nearly half a million dollars, it signalled AI’s arrival as a credible and marketable force in the art world. That milestone has since been surpassed several times, including by A.I. God, a portrait of wartime codebreaker Alan Turing created by an AI robot and sold at Sotheby’s for more than $1 million in 2024, and Dimitri Cherniak’s The Goose, which soared past $6 million in 2023.

Yet despite these high-profile sales, AI-generated art is not a new phenomenon. Its digital roots stretch back to the late 1960s, when pioneer Harold Cohen developed AARON, one of the earliest AI art systems, at the University of California, San Diego. Throughout the latter half of the 20^th century and early 21^st century, artists continued experimenting with machine creativity. It wasn’t until the 2020s, however, that AI and generative art became fixtures on the auction circuit. The question now is whether AI-generated art is a lasting force — and what, exactly, buyers should worry about.

Bona fide or bogus?

Recent findings from the Hiscox AI and Art Report, which looks at the future for producing and collecting AI-generated art, highlight that authenticity and originality top the list of concerns for both collectors (61%) and art enthusiasts (52%). Establishing whether an AI-generated artwork is genuinely unique — and whether its origins are transparent — remains a key challenge.

As with any artwork, understanding whether a piece’s credentials are legitimate is essential. Clear labelling, transparency around tools, and disclosure of creative processes will be vital in establishing trust. Without this foundation, the market risks undermining itself before it matures.

But is it art?

The second major concern is emotional connection. A majority of collectors (60%) and nearly half of enthusiasts (47%) worry that the limited human involvement in AI-generated art diminishes the emotional engagement normally found in traditionally created works.

Another concern is market speculation. For 45% of collectors, the fear is overpaying — especially in a market that could echo the rapid boom-and-bust cycle seen in NFTs during 2021–22. Buying at the peak of hype is a real risk.

Ethical issues also come into play: whether AI-generated art may displace human creativity; the potential infringement of copyright if models train on artists’ works without consent; and the challenges of preserving and maintaining digital artworks over time. Environmental sustainability is another important worry: more than a quarter of collectors (26%) are concerned about the energy consumption required to run the computing models behind AI systems. By 2030, global datacentre electricity demand is forecast to equal the consumption of a major industrialised economy such as Japan.

Paint or pixel?

When compared with traditional mediums, AI-generated art still faces an uphill battle. Nearly seven in ten collectors (69%) believe AI-generated works do not match the quality of art created by human hands. Yet this view isn’t universally held: among newer collectors, only 44% agree, and a quarter consider AI-generated art just as important as painting, sculpture or photography.

This hints at a generational shift. Younger buyers and emerging enthusiasts show more openness to AI as an art form — suggesting a growing market that may mature over time.

A market driven by enthusiasts

For now, the AI art market is driven more by enthusiasts than by seasoned collectors. If enthusiasts continue to shape and influence the space, collectors may gradually follow — seeing AI-generated art not as a passing trend but as an integrated and evolving part of the wider art market.

As with any artistic movement, there will be winners and losers, but that is no different from the broader art world. The question isn’t just whether AI-generated art is here to stay — it’s how quickly the market can establish the clarity, trust and standards needed for it to thrive.

Read the full Hiscox Art & AI Report here. Hiscox is a specialist insurer of high value homes and contents, including private art collections.

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