CORRECTED: Louvre Museum Denies Reports of AI Artist Claire Silver’s Exhibition

Editor's Note: An earlier version of this article cited reporting by Variety and statements from Claire Silver that the Louvre has since denied.

-Toby Bochan, Managing Editor, Web3

The Louvre Museum in Paris, France has denied that Claire Silver, a non-fungible token (NFT) artist that uses artificial intelligence (AI) in her work, will be exhibiting her latest collection there this month.

Variety first reported the news on Monday. "Her work will be presented at legendary Paris museum The Louvre courtesy of Superchief Gallery NFT," beginning on March 21, it wrote. Superchief Gallery is a physical gallery space in New York and Los Angeles that exhibits NFTs.

Silver also touted on Twitter that her latest collection titled "can i tell you a secret" would premiere at The Louvre and that her one-of-one NFT artwork "Love in the 4th Turning" would be on exhibit there.

Silver tweeted on Tuesday that there was "confusion" with her announcement and that The Louvre had "not acquisitioned my work." "I’m 'just' exhibiting there," she said, adding that it would be facilitated by Superchief gallery.

A spokesperson for The Louvre told CoinDesk that the information reported "is not true."

"There is no exhibition of this artist at the Musée du Louvre," a spokesperson said.

Silver also said on Monday that she had signed for representation with global talent agency William Morris Endeavor (WME) as its first AI artist. "We’ll bring AI art to mainstream culture together," she tweeted about the partnership. WME did not immediately respond to CoinDesk for comment.

Silver's "Love in the 4th Turning" is available on OpenSea, and at the time of writing, the top bid stands at 44.44 wrapped ether, or $62,605. The piece is currently owned by Superchief gallery.

Silver's announcement was met with skepticism online from members of the traditional art space.

Others suggested that the work would be exhibited at the Carrousel du Louvre, an underground shopping mall situated nearby the Louvre museum and the Place du Carrousel that regularly hosts art pop-ups.

Carrousel du Louvre did not immediately respond to CoinDesk to confirm.

Last month, pseudonymous NFT collector and influencer Cozomo de’ Medici donated several of his digital artworks to the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA), including artwork created by Silver.

Other museums, including Paris’ Centre Pompidou and the New York Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) have embraced NFT art in recent months.

Claire Silver and Superchief Gallery did not respond to CoinDesk for comment, though since the update to this piece, they have posted her version of events on Twitter.

UPDATE (Mar. 13, 2023 01:47 a.m. EST): Adds tweets from Claire Silver and Superchief Gallery.