A portrait of English mathematician Alan Turing has become the first artwork by a humanoid robot to be sold at auction, fetching US$1.08m (£566,000, A$1.63m) in New York on Thursday. The 2.2 metre (7.5 feet) portrait, titled A.I. God. Portrait of Alan Turing, was created by Ai-Da, the world’s first ultra-realistic robot artist. It smashed pre-sale expectations between $120,000 and $180,000 when it went under the hammer at Sotheby’s, which confirmed that 27 bids were placed on the work.