The highest price paid at auction for an artwork created using artificial intelligence (AI) is $432,000 (£334,144), paid for a “painting” called Portrait of Edmond de Belamy on 25 October 2018. The portrait (of an imaginary person) was created by a type of AI called a Generative Adversarial Network, which was set up by members of the French art collective Obvious Art.
Generative Adversarial Networks (GANs) work by pitting two neural networks against each other to develop new images based on a library of existing images (in this case a dataset of 15,000 portraits painted by artists between the 14th and 20th centuries).
In the Obvious Art collective’s GAN algorithm, which was based on the work of open-source AI programmer Robbie Barrat (USA), one network (the generator) was tasked with iteratively generating images based on the pre-existing data set, while the other (the discriminator) was tasked with identifying the generator’s work. The process concludes when the generator can create images that the discriminator cannot distinguish from the paintings in the original dataset. The striking end result vastly exceeded its auction house estimate of $7,000–$10,000.
The applications of GAN are many and various, but it is the intriguing way in which the AIs in the GAN build up an independent understanding of the world they see through pictures; this is truly independent from the ‘taught’ perception of machine vision we have today and will benefit the likes of automated vehicles in the future.
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History of Auctioneering
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The Iowa Auctioneers Association Granted Tax Exempt Status in 2001.
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The Michigan Auctioneers Association Granted Tax Exempt Status in 1998 to represent the interests of auctioneers in Michigan.
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The Washington Auctioneers Association Granted Tax Exempt Status in 2020.
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The Arizona State Auctioneers Association Granted Tax Exempt Status in 2021.
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The Auctioneers Association of Maryland Granted Tax Exempt Status in 1998.
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Georgia Auctioneers Association Inc Granted Tax Exempt Status in 1969 to Educate Georgia Auctioneers.
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The Montana Auctioneer Association Granted Tax Exempt Status in 2020.
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Source: https://www.guidestar.org/profile/81-0375390
The Alabama Auctioneers Association Inc Granted Tax Exempt Status in 1990 to Educate Alabama Auctioneers.
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Daniel R. Ritger “Colonel Dan”
Died unexpectedly on Sunday, October 30, 2022, at the age of 62. He was born in West Bend, WI, the son of the late LeRoy and Imelda (Nee Weninger) Ritger. Dan graduated from Slinger High School, and attended Reisch School of Auctioneering in Iowa. At a young age he followed his father’s interest in the cattle business by becoming an auctioneer. He had his first auction at the age of 16 years old and has been an auctioneer for 41 years doing public auctions and selling livestock for Ritger Auction Services, Midwest Livestock Producers, Equity Livestock, and the Milwaukee Stockyard. For the past 25 years Dan has been with Auction Specialists of Stoughton. In 2019 Dan partnered with Rod Drendel to form Ritger Drendel Auction Specialists. Dan also was a member of WI Auctioneer’s Association.
Dan took pride in being involved in his community, volunteering with the Allenton Lions club for many years, serving as a Past President and also on various committees and events. He was a previous member of the Allenton Fire Department and served on the Addison Town Board for several years including being Chairman for a time. He used his auction skills and quick talking for various fund raising events, volunteered at many livestock auctions at local county fairs and announced the Allenton parade for many years. He was also involved with the Washington County Farm Bureau serving hamburgers and ice cream sundaes.
His Catholic faith was very important to him. He was very active at Resurrection Parish (formerly Sacred Heart) where he attended school at an early age and continued his involvement as he grew older. After moving to Kewaskum in recent years, St. Michaels Catholic Church became his new parish home.
Dan is survived by his son, who was his pride and joy, Clyde Ritger; his former wife, who still held a special place in his heart, Rhoda Ritger; his siblings Timothy (Bonnie Johnson), and Cecilia (Russ) Nehm; nieces & nephews Krista (Keith) Ritger, Teresa (Tim) Weiser, Doug (Lavinia) Nehm, and Eric Nehm. He is further survived by aunts, uncles, other relatives, and many friends. Dan was preceded in death by his parents and his older brother Gerhard Ritger.
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