I don't want to be in the back seat' Biology still beats AI when it comes to art, says Jeff Koons

His hands-off approach to the production of his famous balloon dogs and stainless steel rabbits has been criticised in the past but Jeff Koons, the world's most expensive artist, has drawn a red line: "I wouldn't - for my own base work - be looking at AI to be developing my work."

- Daniel Boffey

The potential and the risks of artificial intelligence are perhaps the hottest topic in the art world, with deep-learning models now able to replicate styles and produce unique compositions on request.

It would appear to be a heaven-sent development for Koons - speaking to the Guardian at the launch of a joint exhibition of his works alongside those of Pablo Picasso at the Alhambra in Granada - whose reliance on teams of craftspeople and cutting-edge technology in the making of his pieces prompted the Collector magazine last year to ask: "Is Jeff Koons an actual artist?"

Exploiting technological advances is what he does. Five years ago, the American's highly mirror-polished stainless steel Rabbit, made by intensive machine-work to imitate the look and material of a balloon, sold for a record $91m (£72.5m).

His previous bestseller, the 10ft-tall steel Balloon Dog, sold for $58m in 2013. A SpaceX rocket took 125 of his miniature lunar sculptures out of the Earth's orbit in February, to become the first authorised artworks on the moon.

For his gazing ball series, in which masterpieces were reproduced but with the addition of a large, blue glass bauble on a shelf, he commissioned 350 of the balls before choosing the best 35.

He is also an innovator. "There are certain projects I'm thinking about," he disclosed. "I have a wonderful dialogue with people that are involved in the core of the development of AI."

But AI appears likely to remain on the periphery of what he does.

"I enjoy where my core of my work comes from - my reflection on everything that has any meaning to me," he said. "I do not work with AI at this time directly other than to produce options. Here's this table: could I see this table in a wood?