Art Basel Miami Beach 2025 featured a satirical art exhibit that took on tech titans and our AI future. The exhibit, entitled “Regular Animals,” was created by digital artist Mike Winkelmann, also known as Beeple. One of the standout pieces in the exhibit was a robot dog with the head of Elon Musk, which would capture images of viewers and then print out “certificates” in a unique style.
Beeple’s goal with the exhibit was to critique the way tech power and data influence our cultural landscape. By using AI-based styling to create the prints, Beeple highlighted how our images are becoming fuel for AI systems. The artist emphasized the growing autonomy of robotics and AI, suggesting that these beings may one day claim their own interpretive authority.
The exhibit featured robots with the heads of tech billionaires like Mark Zuckerberg and famous artists like Pablo Picasso and Andy Warhol. Each robot had a unique style of print, reflecting the aesthetic of the individual it portrayed. Beeple used a combination of Hyperflesh’s hyperrealistic heads and Unitree’s robots to bring his vision to life.
While the exhibit received mixed reviews from art critics, it raised important questions about the role of AI in shaping our visual culture. As machines become more prevalent and data collection becomes more widespread, we are all becoming part of the vast archive from which future intelligences will be shaped. Beeple’s work serves as a reminder that our images and data are being used to train AI systems, whether we realize it or not.
Overall, “Regular Animals” was a thought-provoking and visually striking exhibit that challenged viewers to think about the implications of AI and technology on our society. Beeple’s use of satire and humor brought attention to important issues surrounding data privacy, AI autonomy, and the influence of tech titans on our culture.
