A Christie’s auction in New York next week is blowing the art market wide open with the offer of 34 works by artists who haven’t just asked whether androids dream of electric sheep, they’ve voyaged into that surreal world with their own shears.

Christie’s is trumpeting Augmented Intelligence, a timed online auction that closes on March 5, as a world first because all the paintings, sculptures, prints and digital artworks arose from collaborations between artists and artificial intelligence. If that sounds controversial, it is – thousands of artists have signed a petition criticising the sale.