A robotic arm grabs a paintbrush, dips it into a paint pot, and applies it to the canvas with remarkable precision. Stroke by stroke, it autonomously reproduces a work by Audrey-Eve Goulet, an artist who is thrilled by the performance of Acrylic Robotics' machines. The Montreal-based startup has developed revolutionary technology that allows robots to create near-identical reproductions of human artwork, enabling artists to exhibit and sell their work more widely without having to create each piece themselves.

"It's very impressive to see the robot in real life," Goulet comments at the startup's headquarters in Montreal. "It's so comfortable holding a brush, washing it, and changing colors!" She has been won over by the company's vision of creating machines capable of painting pictures that are virtually identical to the originals, allowing human artists to expand their reach and sales through high-quality reproductions.

The company's founder, Chloë Ryan, initially had a personal motivation for creating these painting robots. "At first, I just wanted to build a robot that would help me recreate my own paintings," Ryan explains. She recalls the weeks it took to fill orders from friends and family when she was a teenager: "I was making $2 an hour!" After studying engineering, she launched her company in 2021, and it took her team three years to achieve paintings – dubbed "aurographs" – with sufficient resemblance and quality to be exhibited and sold.

"The idea is to capture the aura of a work through the chronology of brushstrokes in three dimensions, in a way that a simple photo print could never match," Ryan explains. The process involves artists recreating their paintings on a digital tablet, which records the choice of colors, pressure, and speed of each brushstroke, along with other data that is then fed to the robot. The company is also working on more sophisticated artificial intelligence models so that its machines can directly reproduce images.

The technology addresses a fundamental concern in the art world about AI and creative rights. Unlike many AI image generation tools, Acrylic Robotics operates on what Ryan calls the three "Cs" that artistic communities have been demanding since the explosion of generative AI: consent, credit, and compensation. Artists voluntarily participate in the program, are credited for their work, and receive financial compensation for reproductions of their art.

Goulet appreciates the authentic brushwork visible in her robot-created reproduction. "I like that you can see the strokes. In the pink here, you can clearly see where the brush went and the shape it drew. It really looks like one of my works," she comments while examining the "aurograph" of her painting – actually the second version, as the first wasn't accurate in terms of colors. "There's definitely a bit less history behind it. My final work maybe had five lives before getting to this point, while the robot only sees the last layer," she adds.

The business model offers hope for struggling artists who find it difficult to make a living from their art. The vast majority of painters struggle to live off their art because they can't break into the elite gallery circuit. Those who do succeed are often restricted by their contracts and must find compromises between their artistic ambitions and financial needs. "I do public art and collaborations, like with Acrylic, to get my art out to more people and at more affordable prices too," Goulet explains.

The "aurographs" are sold for an average of $200 to $1,000, with $5 to $50 going to the human artist, depending on their reputation and involvement in the project. "We have a waiting list of 500 artists," Ryan notes, indicating strong interest in the platform. Within a year, she hopes to develop a "self-service platform where any artist in the world can upload their style." Clients could then, for example, request a painting of their dog in the style of their favorite painter, who would receive a commission.

Initial reactions to the technology are often mixed, Ryan acknowledges. "At first, people see a robot painting and say 'Oh my God, this is the worst thing I've ever seen,'" the entrepreneur remarks. "But when I offer artists to reference some of their past works in exchange for money paid every month, many are delighted." This represents a significant shift from the typical AI approach that often uses artists' work without permission or compensation.

Michael Kearns, an associate researcher at Amazon (whose software is used by Acrylic Robotics to design its AI models), points out that photographers face similar financial precarity "even though their works are much easier to reproduce." This suggests that reproduction technology, when implemented ethically, can actually benefit creators rather than replace them.

For now, the company generates revenue primarily through orders from large organizations, such as hotel chains. "We're not taking the place of creators," Ryan insists. "Hotels usually buy stocks of prints most of the time, without involving any artists." This business-to-business approach allows the company to scale while providing artists with new revenue streams and broader exposure for their work. The technology represents a potential model for how AI can be integrated into creative industries while respecting and compensating the human artists whose work makes it possible.