A painting of an AI robot by eminent World War II codebreaker Alan Turing has sold for $1,084,800 (£836,667) at auction.

Sotheby’s said there were 27 bids on the digital art sale of “AI God”, which was originally estimated to sell for between $120,000 (£9,252) and $180,000 (£139,000).

Mathematician Turing was a pioneer in the field of computer science and is known as the father of artificial intelligence (AI).

The auction house said the historic sale “launches a new frontier in the global art market, establishing the auction benchmark for a work of art by a humanoid robot.”

It added that Ai-Da Robot’s work is “the first humanoid robot artist to have an artwork sold at auction.”

The work is a large-scale original portrait of Turing, who studied at King’s College, Cambridge.

The scientist played a crucial role in the Allies’ victory over Nazi Germany in the Second World War by helping to crack codes and decipher the infamous Enigma machine at Bletchley Park.

After the war he made a detailed design for a digital computer in the modern sense.

Sotheby’s said the online sale, which ended at 7pm GMT on Thursday, was purchased by an unknown buyer at a price “well above the estimated price of the artwork”.

The auction house said the sale price for the first artwork by a humanoid robot artist “marks a moment in the history of modern and contemporary art and reflects the growing intersection between AI technology and the global art market.”

Ai-Da Robot, which uses an advanced AI language model to speak, said: “The main value of my work is its ability to serve as a catalyst for dialogue on emerging technologies.”

The work “invites viewers to reflect on the divine nature of AI and computing while considering the ethical and societal implications of these advances,” the robot said.

“Alan Turing recognized this potential and is watching us as we race towards this future.”

Aidan Meller, director of Ai-Da Robot Studios, said: “This auction marks an important moment for the visual arts, where Ai-Da’s artworks draw attention to the art world and societal changes as we grapple with the increasing age of AI .

“The artwork ‘AI God’ raises questions about freedom of choice as AI gains more power.”

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The sale price was initially stated as $1.3 million, but was later corrected by the auctioneer.