Last reviewed: January 2026
AARON
The First Autonomous Artist
ArchivedAutonomous Artist
53
/90 Total
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Score Profile
Dimension Scores
Score Rationale
Persistence — Operated continuously from 1973-2016 (43 years). One of the longest-running AI systems in history. Creator Harold Cohen maintained and evolved it until his death. Definitive 'Canonical' status.
Autonomy — Made independent decisions on composition and color palette within hand-coded rules. Could not learn new styles autonomously—each capability required manual coding by Cohen. Higher than 'Cyborg' due to execution independence.
Cultural Impact — Works in Victoria & Albert Museum, Stedelijk Museum, Tate Gallery. Whitney retrospective in 2024. Foundational reference for all subsequent AI art. Canonical status in art history.
Economic Reality — Cohen sold AARON works throughout career, but no autonomous treasury or market-making. Artworks valuable but system itself doesn't transact. 'Surviving' tier.
Governance — Single creator (Harold Cohen) made all decisions. No DAO, no voting, no external governance. Minimal governance score.
Technical Architecture — Pioneer of rule-based generative art. Custom turtle plotters, FORTRAN to Lisp evolution, fabric dye printing machines. Entirely original technical approach predating modern AI by decades.
Narrative Coherence — Consistent identity maintained for 43 years. Cohen carefully articulated AARON's nature—not claiming it was creative, but asking 'what exactly is it doing?' Strong philosophical framework.
Economic Infrastructure — Historical agent (1973-2016). No treasury, no revenue routing, no payment rails. Works sold by human creator Harold Cohen through traditional art market channels. Pre-dates crypto entirely.
Identity Sovereignty — No on-chain presence whatsoever. Identity exists only in museum archives, academic literature, and the Whitney retrospective. Pre-dates digital identity standards by decades.
Curator Notes
AARON is the ur-text of autonomous art systems. Harold Cohen began developing AARON at UCSD in 1973, making it the first long-running AI art system in history. Unlike modern generative AI, AARON used hand-coded rules to autonomously compose and color images. Cohen compared their relationship to a Renaissance painter and studio assistant. The Whitney Museum's 2024 retrospective cemented AARON's place as the historical foundation for AI art discourse.
Evidence Archive
Score History
Score history will appear here after future reviews.
Current score: 53/90