Why AI Art Is Winning over Young Collectors

Artificial intelligence (AI) has been a talking point in the art market for some time, but conversations reached a fever pitch in February 2025 when Christie’s announced its first-ever sale composed entirely of AI-generated art.

Titled “Augmented Intelligence” and billed by Christie’s as the “first-ever artificial intelligence-dedicated sale,” the auction featured works by Refik Anadol, Charles Csuri, Claire Silver, Holly Herndon, and Mat Dryhurst. The online-only sale proved a huge success. Some 28 of the 34 lots offered sold for a combined total of $728,784—far exceeding its low estimate of $600,000 (prices include fees).

The sale was perhaps most notable because it attracted a younger demographic: Some 48% of bidders were millennials and Gen Zers, and 37% of the registrants were newcomers to Christie’s. For years, Gen X (those born between 1965–81) has dominated the market, making up 62% of all buyers in 2019. In the Art Basel and UBS Art Market Report, Gen X respondents showed the highest average spending in 2023 ($578,000), continuing into the first half of 2024. However, the report notes that when it comes to digital art, younger buyers had higher spending levels.

Online is also a familiar channel for younger audiences. According to Artsy’s Art Collector Insights 2024, 82% of collectors under the age of 37 said they had purchased art online. This group also grew up around technology, which is a key part of AI arts’ appeal, according to Nicole Sales Giles, vice president and director of digital art sales at Christie’s. “AI in art is becoming more widely accepted because AI, in general, is permeating more of our daily lives, and people are getting more accustomed to artificial intelligence across all aspects of their work and leisure,” Giles told Artsy in an interview. “For Gen-Z and millennial collectors, this familiarity translates into a greater appreciation for the technology and process behind the art, making the journey of creation as desirable as the artwork itself.”

At a time when the art market at large is looking to attract the next generation of collectors, AI art could be a key entry point.

Art based on new technologies can evoke a sense of unease in the current art market, largely due to the dramatic fluctuations of the NFT (non-fungible-token) market. The boom and bust that occurred in 2021 and 2022, where transactions plummeted by 97% from their peak in January to September 2022, as reported by Dune Analytics, challenged confidence in the digital spheres.

Indeed, the frequent conflation of AI-generated art with NFTs can confuse collectors, particularly when distinguishing between the process of creating the artwork and the method of owning it. The key difference is that AI-generated art is created through the use of artificial intelligence, algorithms, and machine learning tools, like ChatGPT or the image generator DeepAI. In contrast, NFTs are digital assets stored on blockchain technology representing ownership of a unique item, not the method of its creation. An artwork can be both AI-generated and an NFT. One such example is Niceaunties’s 5 Mins To Opening (2024), which sold for $11,1340 at the Christie’s sale.

It’s also important not to confuse AI art with digital art. While AI art uses digital tools in aspects of its creation, digital art refers to all work created using digital technology, whether its final product is physical or online-only.

The emergence and growth of AI art and NFTs are interconnected, however. ArtTactic and Hiscox’s Art and AI Report 2024 noted that 40% of art collectors anticipate that more people will buy AI-generated art. “The boom in AI-generated art sales coincided with the NFT boom in 2021–22, but the interest has continued despite the collapse of the NFT market, and auction sales of AI and generative art reached a new peak in 2023,” stated the report. “There are also signs that NFT collectors are looking for more sophistication, purpose, and content.”

It’s also worth noting the connection between AI art, NFTs, and cryptocurrencies. The popularity of cryptocurrency transactions for art, particularly in online auctions, has increased in recent years. The Christie’s AI sale, for instance, accepted cryptocurrencies for a majority of lots.

The growth of AI art has not come without controversy. Within a week of Christie’s announcing its sale, a petition—which has since attracted more than 6,500 signatories, including artists Kelly McKernan and Karla Ortiz—called for the auction house to cancel the sale. In an open letter, they argued that “these models, and the companies behind them, exploit human artists, using their work without permission or payment to build commercial AI products that compete with them.” The letter touched on several concerns raised about AI art, particularly about the many AI models that are trained on copyrighted material without any licensing.

Christie’s, however, stood firm. In a statement to ARTnews, it noted that “the artists represented in this sale have strong, existing multidisciplinary art practices, some recognized in leading museum collections. The works in this auction are using artificial intelligence to enhance their bodies of work.”

Indeed, AI art is a broad tent. Artists working across several disciplines, from installation, to performance, to sculpture, to painting, can integrate AI into their existing practices. Understanding how an artist uses AI in their practice is critical when judging it.

French Turkish artist Sarp Kerem Yavuz, whose AI-rendered polaroid Hayal (“Dream”) (2024) sold for $8,820 at Christie’s AI sale, shed light on some misconceptions, explaining that many collectors mistakenly believe that artists working with AI tools simply “push a button” to produce art.

“People genuinely did not think about the degree to which AI is a collaborative tool,” Yavuz told Artsy. The Christie’s sale highlighted “just how much of a collaborative tool and how much of an extension of our existing practices” AI art is, he added.

Still, the legal implications of using AI to make art are largely unclear. In January, the U.S. Copyright Office announced that content generated solely by artificial intelligence lacks copyright protection unless it involves “perceptible human expression.”

London-based arts lawyer Gregor Kleinknecht noted that collectors should pay close attention to these developments, particularly as they relate to international collecting. “The key to understanding copyright law is to understand that copyright laws are national laws and differ from country to country, sometimes quite substantially.…Collectors should be asking how AI has been used in the creation of the artwork,” said Kleinknecht. Laws and penalties vary by geography, but “knowingly possessing or distributing such material in a business context can give rise to civil claims for damages and injunctions, so it affects the marketability of the infringing work,” he added.

As the art market becomes more familiar with AI art, its acceptance of the new discipline is growing. “AI art resonates with younger generations because it captures their experience as digital natives, naturally offering more relevance compared to traditional art forms,” said Neil Hutchinson, co-founder of Fellowship, a London-founded nomadic gallery that works with digital artists. He consigned several of the works included in the recent Christie’s AI auction.

This interest in process is critical when considering these younger collectors. “The narrative behind AI art strongly influences young collectors by offering a compelling story of human-machine collaboration,” said Hutchinson. He pointed out 33-year-old French American artist Sarah Meyohas’s Infinite Petals (2023), which uses an AI trained on thousands of rose petals to generate new forms and leverages “human creativity, sophisticated algorithms, and digital aesthetics.” Hutchinson noted that for younger collectors, “engaging with works like this feels like participating in a groundbreaking cultural conversation.”

In short, young collectors’ enthusiasm for AI art can be attributed to their upbringing in a digital-first world in which technology has grown increasingly intertwined with daily life and cultural identity.

“AI-generated art is significant because it reflects our current cultural moment, where technology profoundly shapes how we live, communicate, and create. Younger generations, particularly millennials and Gen Z, naturally connect with AI art due to their digital-native experiences,” said 34-year-old Australian collector Daniel Maegaard (known in the Web3 community as Seedphrase). “They’ve grown up interacting seamlessly with technology, primarily through digital platforms, making them more receptive to art forms that combine human creativity with technological innovation. AI art mirrors their lived reality—digital-first, adaptive, and dynamic—deeply resonating with their sensibilities and experiences.”

This curiosity is paired with increased accessibility, according to Giles. “Owning NFTs and digital art requires minimal physical space,” she said. “You can display a rotating gallery on a single screen or keep an entire collection in your digital wallet, making it an attractive option for Gen-Z collectors eager to enter the art world without the need for extensive physical space.”