An AI portrait of gay scientist Alan Turing, known for his pioneering work at Bletchley Park during the Second World War, and his arrest for homosexuality and eventual pardon, is expected to fetch up to $180,000 when it is auctioned off at Sotheby’s in New York.
The fragmented portrait, created by the intelligent robot Ai-Da, stands 2.2 metres tall and is characterised by dark tones and colour blotches forming an almost pixelated design that shapes an unrecognisable face.
The legacy of Alan Turing’s life and work did not fully come to light until long after his death in 1954.
Although his impact on computer science was widely acknowledged, it wasn’t until the 1990s that his role in cracking the Enigma code in the Second World War came to light.
It is estimated that the intelligence produced at Bletchley Park shortened the war by two to four years, and Turing played a central role in this.
In the early 1950s, Turing was arrested for homosexuality – which was then illegal in Britain – and was found guilty of ‘gross indecency’. He avoided a prison sentence by accepting chemical castration but the conviction led to the removal of his security clearance and barred him from continuing with his cryptographic consultancy for the Government Communications Headquarters.
On 8 June 1954 he was found dead from cyanide poisoning at his home, with an inquest ruling that he died of suicide.
In 2013 Turing was given a posthumous royal pardon after bills were submitted in Parliament and the House of Lords.
Chris Grayling, Justice Secretary at the time said: “Turing deserves to be remembered and recognised for his fantastic contribution to the war effort and his legacy to science. A pardon from the Queen is a fitting tribute to an exceptional man.”
In 2016 the Government announced gay and bisexual men convicted of now-abolished sexual offences in England and Wales were to receive posthumous pardons under an amendment dubbed the “Turing law”.
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