32 h. ago ‘I sent AI to art school!’ The postmodern master who taught a machine to beef up his old work

Warhol for colour, Hopper for volume American art world star David Salle is using AI on old paintings of his that had a mixed reception – with wild, sprawling results. Why isn’t he afraid of being replaced?By the time you read this article, there’s a good chance it will have already been scanned by an artificially intelligent machine. If asked about the artist David Salle, large language models such as ChatGPT or Gemini may repurpose some of the words below to come up with their answer. The bigger the data set, the more convincing the response – and Salle has been written about exhaustively since he first rose to art world stardom in the 1980s. The question is whether AI can ever say anything new about the artist and his work, or if it’s for ever condemned to generate more of the same.A similar question lingers beneath the surface of the paintings that Salle has been making since 2023, a new series of which he has just unveiled at Thaddaeus Ropac in London. His New Pastorals were ma...

Politics

38 h. ago Having as many babies as possible is not the only way to show you love humanity | Zoe Williams

Elon Musk is obsessed with falling birth rates, as is the Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orbán. Why would leftwingers want to buy into their ‘pronatalist’ agenda?‘Perpetuating humanity should be a cross-politics consensus,” read an article in the Atlantic last week, “but the left was mostly absent at a recent pronatalism conference.” It’s such a simple proposition – everyone loves babies and wants the species to perpetuate, right? – but pronatalism has provoked a ferocious battle on the American left. Should they be trying to engage meaningfully at a preposterous far-right conference? Or should the left stop self-flagellating and start organising?But what is pronatalism – and is it really borderline fascist? I don’t want to think about slippery, bad-faith, rightwing claptrap any more than you do, but in an era in which US politics can sneeze and the world catches encephalitis, we do, regrettably, have to think about bad-faith everything, all the time. Continue reading...

Politics

3 d. ago How rich is Gina Rinehart, and how much will she earn in the time it takes to read this article?

Australia’s wealthiest person rakes in billions from her iron ore mines. We look at how she makes her money – and how she spends itExplore the series: Gina: power, privilege and influenceListen to episode three Gina: Love and moneyGet our afternoon election email, free app or daily news podcastGina Rinehart has been the richest person in Australia for years, making billions from her iron ore mines.But just how rich is she? Continue reading...

Politics

1 week ago Planning to retire early but not sure you dare? Read my words of warning... and it may just sway your choice: JANICE HORTON

Retiring early meant I got valuable quality time with my husband before he died three weeks ago. But to anyone wrestling with the decision as we did, let our story be a warning.

Events

2 w. ago REVEALED: The hidden meanings in White Lotus: from the books the characters read to a creepy recurring number and even the role of MONKEYS, the subtle clues that suggest the killer's identity...

With just one episode left, White Lotus fans are on tenterhooks, desperate to discover the identity of the body seen floating in a pool in the first scene of what has been perhaps the darkest season yet.

Events

2 w. ago 'A superb, surprisingly propulsive novel': The Literary Fiction to read now

Claire Allfree reviews the best literary fiction out now.

Politics

2 w. ago 'Compelling and horrifying': The best the Crime novels to read now

Geoffrey Wansell reviews the best Crime novels out now.

Events