How Art Firms Are-Or Should Be-Using A.I. Right Now

The art market is no longer asking whether A.I. will matter. The more immediate question is where it can be used without disrupting the trust-based systems that still govern buying, selling, and valuation. For now, the answer is narrow but increasingly practical: data, discovery, operations, and market analysis.

That cautious shift is visible in a growing number of partnerships and products. In March, Bonhams announced a collaboration with ARTDAI, a company that describes itself as a provider of next-generation market analytics for fine art. Bonhams CEO Seth Johnson said the auction house sees potential in A.I. for specialists, particularly in reading market patterns, supporting valuation, and helping staff access insight more efficiently.

The move reflects a broader change in attitude across the sector. Former Art Basel chief Marc Spiegler said the art industry's relatively small size has historically limited investment in custom technology. Compared with retail or real estate, there was less incentive for developers to build art-specific tools, and only a few mega-galleries could afford major in-house systems. Spiegler now expects a“big shift” as A.I. lowers the cost of sophisticated technology for smaller firms and individual users.

ARTDAI's own business model points to where the market is headed. The company says it has seen rising interest over the past 18 months from art businesses of all sizes, while continuing to work mainly with auction houses such as Heritage Auctions and Strauss & Co., as well as insurance carriers. Its principal offering is not a flashy consumer product, but the restructuring of complex datasets so they are ready for future A.I. deployment.

Other players are making similar bets. LiveArt began offering A.I.-powered analytics in 2022, aimed at new investors rather than established collectors. The newly merged Artsy and Artnet have also made A.I. capabilities part of their founding mission for galleries.

The most immediate use case may be discovery. Across industries, A.I. is already shaping what buyers see first, and art businesses are being pushed to think about whether their content is visible to chatbots and other research tools. At an Art Market Minds event, collector and tech investor Alan Lau argued that firms should make their material readable and citable by A.I. systems. He also suggested a more personal model: using A.I. as a kind of“Emily,” the hyper-competent assistant from The Devil Wears Prada, able to recall when a client last visited, what they bought, and what they liked.

That may sound incremental rather than transformative, and that is precisely the point. A.I. is unlikely to remake the art market overnight. But over the next five years, firms that use it strategically may find themselves with a meaningful edge.

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