The use of artificial intelligence has been revolutionizing the world of art. Recently, an algorithm identified about 40 fake paintings for sale on eBay — including supposed famous works by Monet and Renoir.
The discovery was made by Carina Popovici, a specialist in authenticating works of art. In an interview with The Guardian, Popovici explains that she used AI to analyze photos of advertisements published online on eBay.
Although the platform states that it does not authorize the sale of replicas or unauthorized copies and that it uses technology to identify potential fraud, the AI tool used by Popovici found around 40 fake works of art — approximately 95% of the total analyzed. For the expert, this is just “the tip of the iceberg”.
Among the works identified as fake is a painting called “Forest with a stream” and signed by Claude Monet. The advertisement asked for US$599,000 for the work (around R$3 million).
In another ad, scammers tried to sell a painting as if it were Renoir for US$165,000 (R$825,000).
The project headed by Popovici is part of Art Recognition, a Swiss company that has a partnership with the University of Liverpool, in the United Kingdom, and Tilburg University, in the Netherlands.
The technology used to identify fake works has two types of artificial neural networks to identify artists’ work patterns — the analysis ranges from the pattern of brushstrokes to the color palette used. The process takes about 10 minutes.
Artificial intelligence is not just used in online advertisements. In recent years, Art Recognition technology has helped resolve historical questions about paintings in renowned art collections and museums around the world, such as Vincent van Gogh’s self-portraits from the Oslo National Museum and paintings by Peter Paul Rubens that belong to to the National Gallery.
Want to check out exclusive content from Época BUSINESS? Get access to the digital version.
