AI Art in NFTs Brings a World of New Opportunities
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| By Jurica Dujmovic |
Ever since platforms like ChatGPT were launched, AI tools have been sweeping sectors left and right. And they’ve found a unique partnership with NFTs.
By intertwining these two cutting-edge technologies, AI-generated NFT projects are touching on the very horizon of what is currently possible on the blockchain, while looking ahead to the future.
Today, we’re exploring three projects that are catching attention in the space.
AI NFT Project 1: Botto
The decentralized autonomous artist Botto is more than just the sum of its parts – AI being one part, and collectors the other. It's a lively nexus of creativity and community, hinting at a new, collaborative direction in the digital art domain.
The process begins with Botto using several AI programs to not only generate the images but also the titles and five to 10 pieces of abstract poetry for each NFT.
Then, the community takes over. Botto generates over 2,000 images a week. The algorithmic "taste model" then steps in to select 350 of these and lays them before the Botto community for appraisal.
At the heart of Botto's ethos lies a decentralized autonomous organization, a crucible where community members can acquire and stake Botto coins to earn a voice in the project’s evolutionary trajectory.
This participatory framework is more than a nod to democratic engagement; it's a cornerstone for a platform where the communion of human and AI creativity thrives.
This symbiotic relationship between Botto and its community does not just stop at creating visually appealing artwork; it's a journey toward a more democratic and collaborative digital art ecosystem.
The market reception toward Botto's unique offerings has been overwhelmingly positive since its inception. The project hit the $1 million revenue mark within a mere five weeks of auctioning a batch of NFT-backed artwork back in late 2021.
But I believe that was just the beginning based on the strength we’ve seen from the project so far.
In the broader NFT ecosystem — where traders encountered an average daily total loss of 1,000 ETH during the worst period of 2023 — Botto continued to remain a profitable venture, producing a total of 75 NFT collections, which were auctioned off, contributing to the approximate $3 million in revenue.
Looking forward, the recent infusion of venture capital into Botto from VC firm Variant alludes to a bright horizon ahead for this avant-garde AI artist. This investment dovetails with Botto’s burgeoning global acclaim, underscoring the financial and innovative vitality coursing through its digital veins.
The narrative of the VC investment is amplified by Botto’s most recent auction, with a winning bid of 5.16 ETH — roughly $9,000 at the time of writing — amidst an ongoing NFT bear market.
AI NFT Project 2: Fidenza
Created by Tyler Hobbs, a visual artist from Austin, Texas, Fidenza represents the harmonious marriage of mathematics and aesthetics, resulting in pieces that are visually compelling and truly one of a kind.
The core foundation of Fidenza revolves around a technique known as a flow field algorithm. Essentially, it generates visually intriguing curves that possess a unique property of non-overlapping. These curves gracefully align with neighboring curves, ensuring they never intersect or collide, creating a canvas that is as balanced as it is captivating.
Additionally, the algorithm orchestrates a symphony of colors in each piece.
Overall, it's not an exaggeration to say that the creation of Fidenza is the culmination of years of artistic exploration and experimentation, marrying the precision of computer science with the fluidity of visual art.
Within a mere two-month period of its launch, the floor price of Fidenza skyrocketed from 0.58 Ethereum (ETH) — approximately $1,400 at that time — to an incredible 1,000 ETH, which is equivalent to over $3.3 million!
This speedy appreciation not only established Fidenza as a prominent figure within the digital art movement, but it also signaled a key point to potential investors.
Namely, Fidenza was more than just an art collection: It was a lucrative investment opportunity with considerable potential for significant returns.
However, its steep floor price means that a traditional “buy and hold” strategy may not be the best approach here. Fortunately, fractional ownership is possible. This allows you to buy a fraction of the NFT, thus creating a more accessible method of investing. Of course, any gain will be proportional to the fractional amount you own.
AI NFT Project 3: Materia Mania
The foundation of each image in this collection was defined by simple combinations of geometric shapes and colors on a solid black canvas. Through a custom generative-art diffusion model fine-tuned on 120,000 image-text pairs, high-fidelity abstract augmentations were generated from 25,000 base images, which were incrementally upscaled to a resolution of 4096 x 4096.
The journey from a concept to a collection of 1,000 unique NFTs showcases the potential of melding state-of-the-art generative models with custom fine-tuning and aesthetics modeling.
The abstract forms, while algorithmically generated, echo controlled chaos and portray a deliberate aesthetic appeal.
All three projects highlighted above not only showcase the generative power of AI but how it can be used to take cutting-edge technology, like NFTs, even closer to the edge. They stand as a testimony to the transformative potential of AI in redefining artistic expression and the future of digital art.
Best,
Jurica
