How artificial intelligence could recreate humanity’s greatest art
ART galleries could one day replace priceless masterpieces with virtually identical replicas, thanks to a new printing technique.
The method combines artificial intelligence (AI) with 3D printing to recreate colours from an original artwork with remarkable accuracy.
It works by stacking 10 different transparent inks in wafer-thin layers on the canvas. The method, known as Repaint, is combined with a decadesold technique called half-toning, where an image is created by tiny coloured dots rather than in continuous tones. Blending these processes captures colours in such detail that a copy is indistinguishable from the original.
The system’s creators at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) claim it is four times more accurate than current printing techniques.
Tom Lomax, a London-based painter and sculptor, is excited by its potential.
He said: “You could have other replicas in other galleries, and this could encourage the exchange of art, instead of all the art being in one institution that has the money and the power to have all the best art in one place. People might be encouraged to go and see the real thing after seeing a replica in their own home town or museum.
“It will mean art is more communal and accessible than just having it all in London or Berlin or New York. It can make art be more democratic.
“New technology that gives us the means by which you can preserve and promote, at the same time as being accessible, is part of the magic of art.”
The MIT scientists developed the AI for the system by using different pictures of paintings in varying light, so it could replicate the colours accurately.
“If you just reproduce the colour of a painting as it looks in the gallery, it might look different in your home,” said Changil Kim, one of the authors of a paper about the system.
“Our system works under any lighting condition, which shows a far greater colour reproduction capability than almost any other previous work.”
Despite the system’s amazing abilities, it is not quite perfect. The team could not completely reproduce certain colours, such as cobalt blue, due to a limited ink library. And while the technique replicates colour, it does not match the rough texture of artworks painted with oils or acrylics.