Is this a picture lost a masterpiece or a fraud? Let’s ask AI

Artificial intelligence has To date it was remodel In cultural circles: Software will Get the jobs Writers and translators and AI -generated images call the death for illustrators and graphic designers.

Yet there is a place of high culture where Ai He takes the lead role of a character, not displaces traditional main characters – artistic experts and conservatives – but he adds a powerful, captivating weapon to their arsenal when it comes to combating counterfeits and misbehavior. AI is already Exclusive When recognizing and certifying the artist’s creativity based on the analysis of a digital image only of a painting.

The objective analysis of AI threw a wrench in this traditional hierarchy. If the algorithm can determine the authorship of a work of art with statistical likelihood, where does the historians of Art-Guard leave the reputation of their subjective expertise? As a matter of fact, AI will never replace connoisseurs, just like the use of X -rays and carbon dates down decades ago. This is simply the latest in a number of high-tech tools to help authenticate.

Good AI must be “fed” with a curated set of data from the historians of human art in order to build his knowledge of the artist’s style, and the historians of human art must interpret the results. This was the case in November 2024 when a leading AI company, Recognitionpublishes its analysis of Rembrandt’s Polish rider– Facing, which has been aware of scientists and led to many arguments about how much, if any of them was actually painted by Rembrandt himself. AI exactly corresponds to what most connoisseurs have positioned which parts of the picture are from the teacher who are from his students and who included the hand of over -enthusiastic restorers. It is especially captivating when the scientific approach confirms the expert opinion.

We humans find hard scientific data more convincing than personal opinionEven when this opinion comes from someone who seems to be an expert. The so -called “CSI effect“It describes how the jurors perceive DNA’s evidence as more convincing than even eyewitness testimony. But when expert opinion (eyewitnesses), origin and scientific tests (CSI) agree to the same conclusion? This is as close to the final answer as one can receive.

But what happens when the owner of a work, which at first glance seems completely inactive to the extent that it is ridiculous, is gaining a smooth company with the task of collecting forensic evidence in support of preferred attribution?

Lost and found

Back in 2016, an oil picture appeared in Minnesota in Minnesota and was purchased for less than $ 50. Now its owners suggest that May be lost van gogAnd therefore it would cost millions. (One estimate suggests $ 15 million.) The answer – at least each with functioning eyeballs and passing the introduction to the history of art – was huge “no”. The painting is a firm, cumbersome, completely missing feverish Iphaast and a rhythmic brush that determines the creativity of the Dutch artist. Even worse, it is a signature: Elimar. Nevertheless, this dubious picture has become the center of battle with high bets on authenticity, with scientific analysis, market forces and desirable thinking.

Owners of “Elimar van Gogh” as he was mocked in the art circles, now they are Art Advisory Group called LMI InternationalS They are invests strongly Getting experts to say what they want to hear: that it is actually a real Van Gogh. Things get cloudy here. The world of art certification is not a direct affair. Unlike the hard sciences, the history of art deals with probabilities, intensity and competing expert opinions. In addition, the most important is the industry led by financial incentives. If the picture is considered true, its value of the chokes. If it is considered a fake or more recent work of a derivative work of someone named Elimar, who has bet a little on the canvas, perhaps remotely inspired by Van Gogh, but with none of his talents, this is almost useless – for as valuable as you can expect to find a flea market in Minnesity for $ 50. This imbalance in bets has led to a dangerous tendency: hiring experts not to determine authenticity but to confirm it.