Data goes in, art comes out: how some artists are embracing AI

A pioneering artist says collaboration between humans and artificial intelligence can bring in a "new age of imagination." Critics question if it's even art. 60 Minutes - Newsmakers It has some very fierce critics, but AI art is now big business in top auction houses and museums By Sharyn Alfonsi, Sharyn Alfonsi Correspondent, 60 Minutes Sharyn Alfonsi is an award-winning correspondent for 60 Minutes. Read Full Bio Sharyn Alfonsi, Michael Baltierra February 22, 2026 / 7:00 PM EST / CBS News Add CBS News on Google When you think about the way art is created, you might imagine painters, photographers, or sculptors immersed in their work at their studios. But what about a person sitting in front of a computer screen using artificial intelligence and data to create visuals. Is that art? It's a question that is being asked, and answered, by some of the most prestigious museums, critics, and auction houses in the world. Some artists call AI a "revolutionary new medium." Others call it "theft." We wanted to see it for ourselves, so we went to Los Angeles to meet Refik Anadol. The 40-year-old Turkish American artist is considered a pioneer in the world of AI art. If you're wondering what that world looks like, grab your Dramamine.Refik Anadol invited us inside this space at his L.A. studio. Every image that surrounds us, Anadol created using artificial intelligence.We'll get to exactly how he created it in a moment. But first, take it in. A hypnotic flow of shapes and colors that morph and evolve in the mirrors and led screens that surround us. It can make you feel like Alice in Wonderland stumbled into Studio 54.All of this while a device around your neck pumps out different AI-generated scents, such as rain and flowers, to accompany what you're seeing. Anadol says eventually another device will monitor viewers vital statistics, such as heartbeat, and that data will be used to change the art in real time.Sharyn Alfonsi: Is this a party trick?Refik Anadol: I don't think so. I feel like it's a new form of art. Like we are discovering a new place that we've never been before.If that all sounds a bit out there, consider the planetary scale of Refik Anadol's work. His massive, mind-bending images have been stretched across the Sphere in Las Vegas, the facade of the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles and Antonio Gaudi's Casa Batlló in Barcelona. Sharyn Alfonsi: When people ask you what you do, what do you say?Refik Anadol: So I'm a media artist and I am using data and AI-- in my work. So more than 16 years I paint with a thinking brush.Sharyn Alfonsi: What's a thinking brush?Refik Anadol: I believe that information around us, data around us, has-- has its own voice. Sharyn Alfonsi: But like painting, drawing, the things we traditionally think of, sculpting–Refik Anadol: So–Sharyn Alfonsi: --do you do any of those things?Refik Anadol: I think in my mind's eye-- so technically I may not draw well…not but I-- in my mind's eye I can compute, I can imagine geometrically what exactly the mind's eye is looking for. Sharyn Alfonsi and Refik Anadol 60 Minutes To create art, Anadol uses data, lots of it. For this piece, he used 200 million photos of Earth. Data from NASA was the driving force behind these exhibits.Refik Anadol: When I think about data as a pigment, I think it doesn't need to dry. It can move in any shape, in any form, any color, and texture.Sharyn Alfonsi: It sounds a little trippy. Refik Anadol: It is trippy because I think as artists we ask what is beyond reality.To show us how he does that, Anadol grabbed a gaming controller.Refik Anadol: So we are in this-- a new algorithm that I am literally controlling the whole system.Anadol says his team curated 153 million images for a piece on California landscapes.Each image is converted into a series of data points that represents its characteristics such as color, texture and shape. They're then plotted into multi-dimensional space. That data is what the AI learns from. So when it receives a prompt, it can create its own, new version, images Anadol says only, quote, "exist in the mind of a machine."Sharyn Alfonsi: This isn't a real place?Refik Anadol: This is not. This is AI dreaming this world. And now we are reshaping this world together. Anadol then applies special algorithms to blend and make the images into his signature fluid style.Sharyn Alfonsi: Are you a computer programmer or are you an artist?Refik Anadol: I am an artist but I love computers. But now with AI I feel like I have now program it in a way that I never imagine before.Sharyn Alfonsi: How much of this is driven by you and how much by the machine?Refik Anadol: So this is a great question because I try my very best last 10 years to make it 50% machine, 50% human.Treating AI as a co-creator has made Refik Anadol a darling of the tech world. He's teamed up with Google, MIT and Microsoft to create large, public installations.He's been embraced by some in the art world, selling his pieces for upwards of a million dollars at auction. His work has been exhibited at museums around the world. And in 2022, the Museum of Modern Art i