Carina Popovici
| Carina Popovici | |
|---|---|
| Born | August 1982 (age 43) Romania |
| 💼 Occupation | Entrepreneur, physicist |
| 👔 Employer | Art Recognition |
| Title | Chief executive officer |
Carina Popovici (born August 1982) is a Romanian-born entrepreneur and physicist. She is co-founder and chief executive officer of Art Recognition, a Swiss company that applies artificial intelligence (AI) to the authentication of artworks.[1][2][3]
Early life and education
Popovici studied physics at the University of Bucharest, Romania. She subsequently obtained a Ph.D. in theoretical particle physics from the University of Tübingen, Germany. Following her doctorate, she held research positions in Coimbra, Portugal, and Giessen, Germany, before relocating to Zurich, Switzerland.[4]
Career
Finance
Prior to founding Art Recognition, Popovici worked in the finance sector as a risk specialist in quantitative analysis at Credit Suisse in Zurich.[5]
Art Recognition
In 2019, Popovici co-founded Art Recognition together with Christiane Hoppe-Oehl.[6] The company later received a $1 million investment from the venture firm Alpha Star.[7]
Art Recognition develops machine learning (ML) algorithms designed to verify the authenticity of artworks, offering an alternative to traditional connoisseurship, which relies on subjective human judgment.[8]
In 2020, the Swiss newspaper 'Neue Zürcher Zeitung' profiled Popovici and her Zurich-based start-up, describing its software as an attempt to address the prevalence of art forgeries in the international art market.[9]
Popovici has co-authored peer-reviewed research papers on AI art authentication. One study examined the application of vision transformers to art authentication.[10] A second study investigated the use of synthetic images to improve the detection of art forgeries.[11]
Popovici has stated that AI art authentication should be viewed as complementary to, rather than competitive with, the expertise of art historians.[12] Following an initial public disagreement with Nils Büttner, chairman of the Rubenianum and professor of art history at the State Academy of Fine Arts Stuttgart, Germany, the two parties developed a collaborative project.[13] Büttner and Art Recognition jointly applied both traditional connoisseurship and AI analysis to authenticate a painting initially attributed to Anthony van Dyck, with both methods reaching the same conclusion.[14]
In 2022, Art Recognition discovered that a Titian painting at Kunsthaus Zurich was not genuine.[15]
In 2024, Art Recognition identified approximately 40 counterfeit works listed for sale on eBay, including works purportedly by Claude Monet and Pierre-Auguste Renoir.[16] Popovici stated publicly that the prevalence of counterfeit art on online sales platforms was unacceptable.[17] In the same year, a painting authenticated solely through AI analysis by Art Recognition became the first such work to be sold at auction.[18]
In an interview with 'SafetyDetectives' in 2024, Popovici discussed her transition from academia and finance to founding Art Recognition, as well as the use of AI models trained on catalogue raisonné data to support authentication and attribution research.[19]
In 2025, Art Recognition was involved in a controversy between two museums over the attribution of a Vermeer painting.[20]
Media appearances
Popovici has appeared on Swiss National Television discussing the impact of AI on the art market and delivered a TEDx talk on AI art authentication at TEDxNuremberg in 2023.[21] She also appeared in the documentary 'AI and the Art World', broadcast by ARTE.[22][23]
Popovici was interviewed by art historian Noah Charney on the podcast 'Is It? The Art Mystery Podcast', in an episode focused on AI and art authentication.[24]
Personal life
She has stated that her favourite artist is Mark Rothko and that she follows a minimalist lifestyle.[25] She is an advocate for women in science and entrepreneurship.[26]
References
- ↑ "Alpha Star - Carina Popovici". alphastar.capital. Retrieved 2026-03-12.
- ↑ "AI and the Future of Art Authentication". Aalto2. Retrieved 2026-03-12.
- ↑ "Van Eyck Attribution Dispute Pits Art Historians Against A.I. Firm". Artnet News. 2026-02-09. Retrieved 2026-03-12.
- ↑ "Carina Popovici | Covariant Models of Hadrons". Retrieved 2026-03-12.
- ↑ "AI, Art, and Creativity". Swissnex in Boston and New York. Retrieved 2026-03-12.
- ↑ Ashley, Michael (14 January 2026). "Could AI Unmask The True Creators Of History's Greatest Paintings?". Forbes. Retrieved 12 March 2026.
- ↑ "Investment Firm Alpha Star invests 1 million USD in AI Art Authentication Company Art Recognition". markets.businessinsider.com. Retrieved 2026-03-12.
- ↑ "Our Technology". Art Recognition. Retrieved 2026-03-12.
- ↑ Müller, André (2020-01-20). "Art Recognition: Carina Popovici legt Kunstfälschern das Handwerk". Neue Zürcher Zeitung (in Deutsch). Retrieved 2026-03-12.
- ↑ Schaerf, Ludovica; Postma, Eric; Popovici, Carina (2024-07-01). "Art authentication with vision transformers". Neural Computing and Applications. 36 (20): 11849–11858. doi:10.1007/s00521-023-08864-8. ISSN 1433-3058.
- ↑ Ostmeyer, Johann; Schaerf, Ludovica; Buividovich, Pavel; Charles, Tessa; Postma, Eric; Popovici, Carina (2024-02-15), "Synthetic images aid the recognition of human-made art forgeries", PLOS ONE, 19 (2): e0295967, arXiv:2312.14998, Bibcode:2024PLoSO..1995967O, doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0295967, PMC 10866502 Check
|pmc=value (help), PMID 38354162 Check|pmid=value (help), retrieved 2026-03-12 - ↑ "Two A.I. Models Produced Different Results When Authenticating a Raphael Painting. Here's Why That Doesn't Undermine the Tool's Potential". Artnet News. 2023-10-24. Retrieved 2026-03-12.
- ↑ "Büttner und Popovici | Forum Kunst und Markt". Retrieved 2026-03-12.
- ↑ Büttner, Nils; De Feudis, Alita; Popovici, Carina (2024-07-28). "The Interplay of Art Historical Connoisseurship and Artificial Intelligence in Authenticating a Painting Attributed to Anthony van Dyck". Kunstgeschichte. Open Peer Reviewed Journal (in Deutsch).
- ↑ "NZZ on Titian forgery at Kunsthaus" (PDF). Neue Zürcher Zeitung. Art Recognition. November 2022. Retrieved 2026-03-12.
- ↑ "A.I. Flags Renoir and Monet Works As Fakes". Artnet News. 2024-05-08. Retrieved 2026-03-12.
- ↑ "Phoney Monet: AI technology detects up to 40 fake artworks for sale on eBay". The Independent. 2024-05-08. Retrieved 2026-03-12.
- ↑ Nelson, George (2024-12-03). "Swiss Auction House Becomes First to Sell Artwork Authenticated Solely by AI". ARTnews.com. Retrieved 2026-03-12.
- ↑ "Interview With Dr. Carina Popovici - CEO & Co-Founder at Art Recognition". SafetyDetectives. 2024-04-23. Retrieved 2026-03-12.
- ↑ "The Vermeer Dispute" (PDF). The Times. Art Recognition. 24 November 2025. Retrieved 12 March 2026.
- ↑ «Die Idee»: Mit einem Algorithmus Kunstfälschungen erkennen - 10 vor 10 - Play SRF. Retrieved 2026-03-12 – via www.srf.ch.
- ↑ "AI in Art Authentication – Is It a Supplement or a Replacement? | Trending News | CryptoRank.io". CryptoRank. Retrieved 2026-03-12.
- ↑ "Arte Generali - How can Artificial Intelligence support and complement the process of Art authentication?". artegenerali.com (in Deutsch). Retrieved 2026-03-12.
- ↑ "Interview with AI Expert Carina Popovici". Apple Podcasts (in français). 2026-02-21. Retrieved 2026-03-12.
- ↑ "Blog". Artnome. 2019-12-31. Retrieved 2026-03-12.
- ↑ "Women in Art & Tech: The Women Building a More Transparent & Accessible Art World and Market | MyArtBroker | Article". MyArtBroker. Retrieved 2026-03-12.
External links
Category:1982 births Category:Living people Category:Romanian physicists Category:Women physicists Category:University of Tübingen alumni Category:Artificial intelligence researchers
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