The Next Wave of Collectors Is Here — And They're Buying AI Art

A great wealth transfer is underway. Over the coming decades, Boomers and older generations will pass an estimated +$84 trillion to Millennials and Gen Z.

As that capital changes hands, so too will the standards for what holds and maintains value, the digitizing implications of which we've already begun to see with crypto's growing popularity.

This dynamic is playing out in the art world, too. In 2024, younger collectors made up 25–33% of buyers at major auction houses—more than double their share from five years ago.

For example, Christie's recent Augmented Intelligence sale, the house's first auction dedicated to AI-generated works, drew 48% Millennial and Gen Z bidders, with 37% of registrants new to Christie's.

The sale brought in $728K, beating its $600K estimate, and sent a clear message: this new collector base is more than willing to spend on art made with algorithms and prompts.

Of course, mainstream momentum around AI art didn't begin overnight. Back in 2018, Christie's sold Portrait of Edmond de Belamy for $432.5K, 40 times its estimate, marking the first AI artwork sold at a major auction house.

Then last November, Sotheby's raised the bar when Ai-Da's AI God. Portrait of Alan Turing sold for $1.08M, far exceeding its $120–180K estimate—notable during a year when Sotheby's overall auction sales fell 28%.

While the intensity of this appetite for AI art may be surprising, the fact that it exists in the first place is anything but. With AI increasingly involved in all aspects of our life, a generational attraction to works exploring this reality, which may quickly veer into utopia or dystopia, makes perfect sense.

NFTs and AI Art: A Natural Pairing

Of the pieces in the Augmented Intelligence auction, 25% involved NFTs, and the majority of transactions were processed in crypto, as was last year’s sale of AI God. Portrait of Alan Turing.

It's a trend that's becoming increasingly common. While Christie's—and much of the art world—has been careful to draw lines between AI art, NFTs, and crypto, in practice, they're deeply intertwined.

NFTs offer a native way to monetize, track, and resell digital works, like AI art. Additionally, many leading AI artists first gained recognition through NFT platforms, demonstrating how NFTs have long been the connective tissue for artists exploring technology and art.

They also align with the sensibilities of younger generations’ collectors who favor nontraditional collectibles like sneakers, rare tech, or streetwear—all items which blur the lines between art, asset, and identity, just as NFTs do.

Yet NFTs also offer more accessibility (both in handling and in price) than traditional blue-chip art. And according to Artsy's 2024 report, 82% of collectors under 37 have purchased art online, underscoring a digital-first approach.

On Cultural Alignment

These preferences didn't come from nowhere.

Younger generations have weathered economic volatility, rising housing costs, and a steady erosion of trust in traditional institutions. The 2008 financial crisis, in particular, exposed deep flaws in the system and pushed many toward alternative tools, including crypto.

This skepticism of legacy systems and fluency in digital platforms shapes how these generations approach art. It makes sense that people drawn to frontier tech would be particularly receptive to art that explores AI and that uses NFTs as the medium, or a component, for doing so. 

In this context, NFTs represent far more than a gimmick—they're internet-native infra that embodies these generations' attitudes towards ownership, investment, and cultural participation, while offering the increasingly important transparency that younger collectors desire.

In other words, the crossroads of AI art and NFTs resonates with this demographic because they're:

• ⬆️ Emerging — Still defining their place in the art world
• 🤖 Relevant — Reflecting the role of technology in daily life
• 🌐 Digitally integrated — Offering accessibility and portability
• 💎 Aligned with crypto — AI art can function both aesthetically and as onchain assets

Furthermore, even as the speculative NFT boom cooled, auction sales of AI and generative art hit a new high in 2023. Recent research reports that 40% of collectors plan to increase their AI art buying, suggesting a generational shift is in the works.

The Artists Shaping the Movement

While there are many creatives breaking ground here, some of the largest names include:

• Botto — A decentralized, autonomous AI artist governed by a DAO with over $4M in sales
• Claire Silver — Pioneering AI artist with work in LACMA who has shown at Christie's and the Louvre
• Ivona Tau — A generative artist whose work blends technical precision with abstraction
• Pindar Van Arman — Uses neural networks to train machines that paint in his style
• Refik Anadol — Creates immersive installations built from data and machine learning
• Roope Rainisto — Finnish AI artist blending photography and generative tech to explore the surreal boundaries of reality and virtuality

The Future of Collecting

The rise of AI art NFTs isn't just about hype or novelty or tech for tech's sake. 

It's about a new generation of creators and collectors—shaped by economic instability, steep entry barriers to traditional wealth, and a deep familiarity with digital systems—gravitating toward a medium that reflects their worldview. 

If those instincts hold, art with AI as the subject matter and NFTs as the medium may be the format best aligned with where the market is headed.

AI art captures the moment we're living through: a time when machines collaborate with creators and boundaries between process and product blur. NFTs make that culture collectible by offering ownership that feels native to how this generation navigates both art and finance.

Together, they form an artistic venue tuned to Millennial and Gen Z sensibilities. And given this alignment, as younger collectors gain purchasing power and cultural influence, auction houses and galleries are likely to lean harder into this category—experimenting, adapting, and ultimately helping it scale.