Below is the transcript of an off-the-cuff video I made, see below, to talk about Botto - a completely unique crypto/AI artist and project. The transcript below may not be perfect.
Here are links to Botto’s website and SuperRare page.
Link to the video on YouTube is here.
Hey there, guys. I just wanted to take a few minutes to talk about one of my favorite art projects, Botto, and why it’s so cool. Botto has been on my Twitter feed right now with a collaboration with Notable Pepe, and I wanted to take a second to talk about why Botto is so interesting because I’m sure most people are not paying attention. I like to highlight things that I think are fun and interesting.
Botto is a decentralized, autonomous artist governed by the people. One of the reasons Botto is so unique is that it’s an AI crypto art project, but it’s not just AI churning out random pieces of art. It’s actually driven by a community and is one of the few examples in crypto of a fully functioning DAO where token holders like you and me play a key role in the evolution of the art.
The way it works is that every week, token holders vote on Botto’s art on Botto.com. The art is generated by Botto’s AI tools, autonomously generating art in the background. Botto’s art engine is constantly prompting new images, generating tens of thousands of pieces of art each week, and presenting them to the community.
If you’re a token holder, you connect your wallet, vote, and it shows you two images at a time. You just pick which one you like more. Botto is generating all of this art every week, and token holders vote on which pieces they like. It’s not just about picking favorites, though. Botto is a taste engine, so over time, it learns from the community’s preferences and understands what styles people like.
Botto wants to generate art that the community likes, but if it just does that, it would be boring. So there’s a function in Botto’s code where it tries to generate art that it thinks people will like, but it’s also supposed to surprise them. It’s constantly pushing boundaries, generating art with familiar tastes but in new and unexpected directions.
Each week, after the community votes, the most-liked piece is put up for auction on SuperRare. Recently, pieces have been selling for around $10k, which is impressive in this pretty terrible crypto art market. Botto is actually the eighth highest-selling one-of-one crypto artist of all time. One-of-one means that only one person can own a piece of art, which makes it more scarce compared to projects like Bored Apes, where there are thousands of editions.
What’s really interesting is that while Botto releases art more frequently than most artists—about once a week—it’s still relatively scarce. After 10 years, there will only be 520 one-of-ones from Botto. That’s much more limited compared to other collections.
AI art is controversial. A lot of traditional artists question whether AI art is really art. What’s unique about Botto is that it’s AI-generated but with a human element. The art is entirely generated by AI, but it evolves from feedback from the community. There’s a unique intersection of human and AI here.
It’s fascinating to think that the top AI artist in the future might not be a human using AI, but AI itself, with the human input guiding it. I’d expect Botto to keep climbing the leaderboards, even if it may not surpass some of the biggest names like XCOPY.
Finally, one of the reasons I want to highlight Botto is because it’s just fun. You don’t have to speculate or buy anything, it’s just an interesting project to follow.
Occasionally, Botto does collaborations, like the current one with Notable Pepe. But I want to talk about one particularly unique piece: The Alchemist's Playroom. This was the first time Botto selected its own art. Instead of the community voting, Botto picked this piece itself from tens of thousands of images that had never been shown.
What’s fascinating is that it seems like Botto might be recognizing its own artistic journey with The Alchemist's Playroom. The image shows a playful character building toys, and maybe this is how Botto sees itself. While Botto likely doesn’t truly understand its place, this piece is a fun and fascinating output from the AI.
All in all, Botto is a fully functioning DAO shaping this AI artist’s taste engine. It’s a lot of fun to follow, and as far as interesting things happening in crypto, this is one of them. I just wanted to take a moment to highlight it here.
