We have a special announcement

February 27, 2023

GM 

We’re talking about AI today so I figured I’d warm us up by having ChatGPT take over the intro.

Kind of feels like introducing your friends to someone that they’ll eventually like more than you but anyways here's the prompt I used: 

Take it away, ChatGPT. 

Welcome, welcome, one and all, to another edition of Mint or Skip, the newsletter that separates the NFT wheat from the chaff. 

We've got a bevy of blockchain-based beauties for you to peruse this week, so sit back, relax, and prepare to judge some digital art like the snooty art critic you always knew you could be. 

And if you're not into NFTs, well, we can't promise we won't judge you a little bit.

GC here: so do I still have a job?

This week's update: 

  • AI Art is so hot right now - what's next?

  • We have a special announcement

  • All the latest rankings

More info on the Mint/Watch lists here. 

AI ART IS SO HOT RIGHT NOW

Context: 

People can’t get enough of AI Art. Earlier this month we highlighted Life in West America, a collection of AI photographs by Roope Rainisto which ended up being an insta sell out (nice way of saying botted) at a mint price of 0.1 eth, and is now sitting at 8 eth. 

The following week we saw another hit with byteGANs by Pindar Van Arman, which minted for 0.33 and now trades at 1.7 eth. 

That's two of the top five most valuable AI art collections of all time launched in the last 30 days. 

Meanwhile collectors are scrambling to buy anything released by Claire Silver, who many consider to be the most influential crypto AI artist today. Her Genesis collection has gone up from 5 eth to 14 eth in the last month alone.

Why the sudden interest? Part of it comes from the rise of Open AI’s ChatGPT and Dall-E 2 over the last few months, which thrust AI into the mainstream in a way we’ve never seen before.

Another part is that, well, collectors simply like the art – including us.

There's just something captivating about the speed in which we're seeing this all develop. The year-over-year improvements are very noticeable, which means some AI art will forever be rooted in the time period that it was made in. 

Take LIWA for example. Notice the clear imperfections, especially around the hands. An intentional effect but also something notoriously difficult for today's AI models to get right. Eventually they'll smooth it out, which means wonky hands will forever become a trademark of the current era.

Who knows, maybe this invokes a sense of nostalgia down the road, like the Polaroid filters that gen-z still seem to love. Maybe kids in 2040 start wearing costumes with many-fingered gloves as a joke about the early 20s.

Siri, remind me in 17 years to check if I was right about the AI costume glove thing.  

Bottom line: this is just getting started. AI art is at the beginning of a long attention cycle. It began with mostly static art but will also soon take off in music, animation, and even gaming.

Now imagine a future where:

1. Investors keep pouring money into AI startups.

2. Models improve, outputs get more interesting.

3. Critics stop fighting. We all agree AI can make art.

4. AI artists go viral. We see our first Robo Bob Ross.

5. Price tags for some pieces hit 7 figures or more

Do you buy this? Well let’s say you do, and you’re now convinced AI art becomes this important new chapter in art history. 

In that case, it also makes sense to believe that the best AI artists today will eventually be viewed as foundational. And as we've seen, the early works in a movement are often considered the most valuable.

In other words it’s hard to be bullish on AI art and not be bullish on, say, Claire Silver’s place in history.

At least, that’s the story collectors are starting to tell themselves.

What's Next: 

Today we’re sharing two upcoming AI drops we’re excited about.

All AI Art Looks The Same, from Braindrops. Braindrops is arguably the top platform for AI art today and had their record month of volume in February.

We don’t know a ton yet, other than that they’re bringing together 14 of the world’s top AI artists and that it’ll come out soon™. 

Tokyo AI Art Collection, by Bright Moments. Another leading crypto art platform bringing together 11 top AI artists for a collection of 1,100 NFTs, this time in March. 

In this case they’re using a mechanic called a Blind Dutch Auction, where minters get assigned an NFT from a random artist in the pool. If you’re in it for a specific artist this can be annoying, but for everyone else it’ll be a fun twist.

By the way you may notice that both these drops share some of the same artists. This is expected – if crypto art is still a small world today, then crypto AI art is microscopic. 

Added to: Mint List Rank #6 ✨

Added to: Mint List Rank #7 ✨

WE HAVE AN ANNOUNCEMENT

They grow up so fast. We’ve only been writing this newsletter for 4 weeks, but it already feels like we’ve become close friends. Now we’re not the clingy type, but can we all agree it'd be nice to see each other more than once a week?

Well I have some good news:  

We're expanding to two newsletters per week instead of one. Double the fun, same low low price of…free.

Going forward you’ll get an email from us every Monday and Thursday. This means you'll get more real time updates and reviews, which is especially great since many drops often only give a few days notice before minting. 

But wait, that’s not all! Ok it is, for now - but we have some more announcements coming in the next few weeks. Stay tuned, and see you Thursday. 

THE MINT LIST

Coming Soon: deep dives on www.mintorskip.com.