[Namsan Stroll] The Boundaries Between Industry and Art Transformed by Physical AI

From Generation to Action: How AI Intervenes in Reality
Beyond Automobiles, Toward Systems: Art and Industry in Transformation

At this year's CES, the world's largest electronics and IT exhibition, one of the most prominent booths was undoubtedly Hyundai Motor Company. Interestingly, the reason for this attention was no longer just about car design or performance. At CES, Hyundai Motor Company presented its future vision not simply as a 'mobility manufacturer,' but as a robotics and intelligent systems company based on Physical AI-technology where AI is combined with robots and sensors to move and react directly in real-world spaces.

The sharp rise in the company's stock price following this announcement clearly demonstrates how the market is responding to this change. Investors have begun to see Hyundai not as a mere car manufacturer, but as a key player in the future industries centered around AI and robotics. Will Hyundai Motor Company be remembered as a car company, or will it be defined as a Physical AI company?

This transformation is not limited to a single corporate case. We are now living in an era where traditional boundaries across industries are collapsing, and convergence and transformation are becoming the norm. The distinctions between manufacturing and IT, mobility and robotics, hardware and software, are increasingly losing their meaning-and this trend is no exception in the arts sector.

In fact, AI entered the art world long ago. Generative AI that creates text, images, and music is no longer unfamiliar, and many artists have adopted it as a tool. However, the recent trend shaking up the artistic landscape is not just generative AI. It is Physical AI.

Physical AI does not stop at calculating and outputting results on a screen. It operates by integrating with sensors, robots, mechanical devices, and spaces, moving and reacting directly in the real world. The moment Physical AI intervenes, art shifts from being an object to be viewed to becoming an environment that coexists and interacts. The audience is no longer a mere observer but becomes a variable and participant who changes the state of the artwork.

At the Hyundai Motor Group booth at the Las Vegas Convention Center (LVCC) in Nevada, USA, during CES 2026, the robot dog Spot is demonstrating car repair. Spot is an icon symbolizing Hyundai Motor Group's Physical AI strategy. Photo by Yonhap News Agency

The core of Physical AI is the 'body.' Sensors detect the audience's location and movement, sound, and density, while robots and mechanical devices alter the space based on that information. Algorithms analyze data in real time to determine the next action, and the artwork continuously changes depending on the number of visitors, their movement, and the duration of their stay. In this way, the art museum transforms from a static exhibition space into a living system.

Whereas robotic art of the past moved according to predictable rules, and AI art focused on generating digital outputs, these two fields remained separate for a long time. Now, however, with the combination of generative AI and Physical AI, creation is expanding beyond the screen into real-world 'actions.'

At this point, art begins to resemble industry. Just as Hyundai Motor Company is attempting to transition from an automaker to a Physical AI company, art is also moving away from an object- and file-centered market toward system-based art that operates and responds. To own an artwork in the future will no longer mean purchasing a physical object, but rather owning or operating an intelligent environment and experience.

In the future art market, the boundaries between genres and technologies will become even more blurred. What matters is not what is created, but how it relates to and interacts with reality. Physical AI stands at the center of this change. And the scene Hyundai Motor Company presented at CES may serve as a preview of where we are headed in all fields, including the arts.

Jisook Hong, CEO of Art Token and Convergence Content Planner