Arts & Culture

MIT study finds AI-generated images often can’t be traced to training data

A new study from MIT's Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory has identified a phenomenon researchers call "attribution decay," finding that as AI image generators are trained on larger datasets, the influence of any individual training image becomes increasingly difficult…

Police probe possible inside job in Sicily museum heist

Four Renaissance masterpieces by 15th-century painter Antonello da Messina were stolen from the Regional Museum of Messina in Sicily on Saturday night, August 15, while tens of thousands of residents celebrated the annual Feast of the Assumption in the streets…

Amazon is destroying rare books to train its AI models, investigation finds

Amazon Amazon.com, Inc. is buying large quantities of rare and out-of-print books, slicing off their spines for faster scanning, and destroying the originals — all to feed training data into its AI models. An investigation published Monday by 404 Media…

Italy recovers stolen Cézanne, Renoir and Matisse worth millions

Italian police on Friday announced the recovery of three paintings by Paul Cézanne, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, and Henri Matisse that were stolen nearly five months ago in a brazen three-minute heist from a private museum near Parma, ending one of Europe's…

Banksy artworks cost UK taxpayers nearly £150,000 in cleanup and security

Three street artworks by Banksy have cost UK taxpayers almost £150,000 in cleanup and security expenses, with the bill expected to rise further, according to figures obtained by the BBC through Freedom of Information requests.

Fisherman discovers 2,000-year-old Roman shipwreck off Sicily

A fisherman and free-diver has stumbled upon an ancient Roman shipwreck estimated to be over 2,000 years old off the coast of Sicily, in what Italy's culture minister called "one of the most important underwater archaeological discoveries of recent years."

John Cage’s 639-year-long organ piece hits 17th chord change in Germany

More than 150 people crowded into a medieval church in eastern Germany on Wednesday to witness a fleeting moment in one of the world's longest musical performances: the 17th chord change in John Cage's composition "ORGAN²/ASLSP (As Slow as Possible),"…

Study finds readers prefer AI-written stories to human ones

Readers gave the highest ratings to short stories generated by artificial intelligence — particularly when they believed the work had been written by a human — according to research published by Cambridge University Press in the journal Judgement and Decision…

2,500-year-old marble statue unearthed at ancient Sardis

Archaeologists excavating the ancient city of Sardis in western Turkey have uncovered a monumental marble statue of a young man dating back approximately 2,500 years, in what officials described as one of the most notable recent discoveries in Anatolian archaeology.

Pacific island nation Nauru officially renamed Republic of Naoero

The Pacific island nation formerly known as Nauru has officially changed its name to the Republic of Naoero, reclaiming a traditional designation that predates European colonization in a move its government says is rooted in cultural heritage rather than politics.

Guggenheim Abu Dhabi sets Dec. 11 opening after two decades of delays

Nearly two decades after it was first announced, Guggenheim Abu Dhabi will open its doors on December 11, 2026, the Department of Culture and Tourism – Abu Dhabi confirmed this week. The Frank Gehry-designed museum on Saadiyat Island will become…

Thieves steal 2,500-year-old Celtic gold collar from French museum

Thieves stole a priceless 2,500-year-old gold torque from the Musée du Pays Châtillonnais – Trésor de Vix in Châtillon-sur-Seine, France, on Friday, July 24, after entering the museum as regular visitors and smashing its display case during opening hours.

Louvre reopens Apollo Gallery empty after crown jewels heist

The Louvre Museum's Apollo Gallery reopened to visitors on Wednesday, nine months after thieves made off with €88 million ($102 million) worth of French crown jewels in one of the most brazen art heists in modern history. The gallery is…

‘Chatfishing’ rises as singles use AI to craft dating app messages

Singles are increasingly outsourcing their dating app conversations to AI tools like ChatGPT and Claude, a trend that Bloomberg has dubbed "chatfishing" — building a text-based connection that doesn't match the person on the other end.

UNESCO set to list Lebanon castles, Lake Baikal as heritage in danger

The United Nations is poised to declare several sites around the world as heritage in danger, including five castles in war-torn southern Lebanon, a Biblical archaeological site in the occupied West Bank, and Russia's Lake Baikal, as the UNESCO World…

Archaeologists decipher name of a Maya astronomer for the first time

Archaeologists working at the ancient Maya ruins of Xultun in northeastern Guatemala have deciphered the name of a Maya astronomer-mathematician for the first time: Sak Tahn Waax, or "White-chested Fox." The discovery, published Monday in the journal Antiquity, links an…

T. rex ‘Gus’ sells for record $50.1M at Sotheby’s

A Tyrannosaurus rex skeleton nicknamed "Gus" sold for $50.1 million at Sotheby's in New York on Tuesday, shattering the record for the most expensive fossil ever sold at auction. The 67-million-year-old specimen, one of the largest and most complete T.…

Dutch museum covers floor in peanut butter to honor late artist

Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen in Rotterdam has recreated one of the most eccentric works in Dutch contemporary art — a floor covered entirely in smooth peanut butter — as a tribute to conceptual artist Wim T. Schippers, who died on…

Bayeux Tapestry arrives in London for first time in nearly 1,000 years

The Bayeux Tapestry arrived at the British Museum in London in the early hours of Friday in a high-security overnight operation, marking the first time the medieval masterpiece has been on English soil in nearly a millennium.

Egypt uncovers sealed 2,000-year-old tombs with gold artifacts near Alexandria

Egypt's Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities announced on Saturday the discovery of 18 previously unknown Greco-Roman tombs at the archaeological site of Marina El Alamein, roughly 100 kilometers west of Alexandria on the Mediterranean coast. The find includes a sealed…

Abu Dhabi breaks ground on Frank Gehry-designed arts complex

Abu Dhabi has begun construction on Dar al Funoon Abu Dhabi, a sprawling performing arts complex on Saadiyat Island designed by the late Frank Gehry, the Department of Culture and Tourism – Abu Dhabi announced on June 25. The venue,…

AI unlocks full text of sealed Herculaneum scroll

Researchers working with the Vesuvius Challenge announced on Wednesday that they have virtually unwrapped and read the full surviving text of PHerc. 1667, a carbonized scroll buried by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in A.D. 79, recovering nearly 1.5 metres…

Sotheby’s sets London record with $520M sale of Lewis collection

The art collection of British billionaire Joe Lewis shattered expectations on Wednesday evening at Sotheby's London, fetching £296.3 million ($392.6 million) and setting a new European record for a single-owner sale. The result nearly doubled the pre-sale low estimate for…

Metal detector find challenges Sutton Hoo helmet’s Scandinavian origins

A copper-alloy die stamp unearthed by metal detectorist Stephen Newbury in a field near Lynsted, Kent, in April 2024 is reshaping scholarly understanding of one of England's most celebrated archaeological treasures: the Sutton Hoo helmet. The find, announced publicly last…

James Turrell opens his 100th Skyspace in Denmark

American artist James Turrell's largest Skyspace in a museum context opened to the public today at ARoS Aarhus Art Museum in Denmark, marking both his 100th such installation and a milestone timed to coincide with the summer solstice.

5,000-year-old ‘prototype’ of Stonehenge found 3 miles away

Archaeologists have announced the discovery of a 5,000-year-old timber structure near Bulford, Wiltshire, just five kilometres from Stonehenge, which they believe may have served as an early "prototype" for the iconic stone circle's solstice alignments.

Sherwood Forest’s 1,200-year-old Major Oak, linked to Robin Hood legend, has died

The Major Oak, an enormous English oak that stood for more than a millennium in the heart of Sherwood Forest and became inseparable from the legend of Robin Hood, is dead. The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, which…

Imperial Roman villa unearthed near Rome after illegal dig

A lavish Roman villa from the imperial era has been uncovered at Castel di Guido, about 19 kilometers west of Rome, after police were tipped off about illegal excavations on government-owned land in February. Italy's Special Superintendency of Rome will…

Russian artist who mocked Putin and Kadyrov shot dead in Poland

Semyon Skrepetsky, a 44-year-old Russian satirical artist known for mocking Vladimir Putin and Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov, was shot dead on the morning of June 15 in a parking lot in Biała Podlaska, eastern Poland, in what police described as…

David Hockney, iconic British artist, dies at 88

David Hockney, one of Britain's most celebrated artists, whose paintings of Los Angeles swimming pools shimmering in the California sunshine became icons of 20th-century art, died on Thursday at his home. He was 88.