Robot dogs with Musk and Zuckerberg heads roam around Berlin museum in Beeple's new exhibit

BERLIN (AP) — Robot dogs with hyper-realistic silicone heads modeled after world-renowned figures — including Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg, Jeff Bezos, Andy Warhol and Pablo Picasso — can be seen roaming around a Berlin museum, occasionally “pooing” printed images of their surroundings which they've previously captured with integrated cameras.

The animals are part of an interactive installation by American artist Beeple (Mike Winkelmann) currently showing at Berlin's Neue Nationalgalerie.

Each printed image shows a snippet of reality transformed by AI to resemble the personality of the dog or, in other words, the worldview of the human figure on its shoulders (i.e., the Picasso dog will produce images in Cubist style and Warhol's in pop art).

It's a commentary on how our perceptions are shaped by algorithms and technology platforms, the organizers of the exhibition write in the description of the event.

“In the past, our view of the world was shaped in part by how artists saw the world,” Beeple told the AP. “How Picasso painted changed how we saw the word, how Warhol talked about consumerism, pop culture, that changed how he saw those things.”

Now our view of the world is shaped by tech billionaires who own powerful algorithms that decide what we see and what we don’t see, the artist added.

“That's an immense amount of power that I don’t think we’ve fully understood, especially because when they want to make a change, they don’t need to lobby the U.N. They don’t need to get something through Congress or the EU, they just wake up and change these algorithms.”

The dogs also wear heads in Beeple’s own image.

Lisa Botti, the curator of the exhibition in Berlin, said that artificial intelligence was one of the phenomena most impacting our lives today and that “museums are the places where society can reflect” on such transformations, which is why she wanted to have Beeple’s work shown.

The work, entitled “Regular Animals,” was first shown at Art Basel Miami Beach 2025.

Beeple is a graphic designer from South Carolina who does a variety of digital artwork. He is one of the founders of the “everyday” movement in 3D graphics: For years, he has been creating a picture every day and posting it online without missing a single day.

According to Christie's, he is the third most expensive living artist to sell at auction, after David Hockney and Jeff Koons.

In the spring of 2021, Christie’s opened bidding for Beeple's digital collage entitled “Everydays: The First 5000 Days,” with the sale ultimately closing at over $69 million. The auction house described the artwork as “critiques of modern society, the government and social media” in the form of “grotesque, dystopian futures, often featuring celebrities like Donald Trump and Kanye West.”

Christie’s said the sale marked the first time a major auction house offered a digital-only artwork with a non-fungible token as a guarantee of its authenticity, as well as the first time cryptocurrency has been used to pay for an artwork at auction.

Non-fungible tokens, known as NFTs, are electronic identifiers confirming a digital collectible is real by recording the details on a digital ledger known as a blockchain. The tokens have swept the online collecting world recently, an offshoot of the boom in cryptocurrencies.

At the Art Basel 2025 event, Beeple gave away the photos pooed by his dogs to audience members, accompanied by a certificate that read “100% organic GMO-free dog shit.” Some prints had QR codes that gave access to free NFTs, which in practice meant Beeple was giving away his digital art for free for people (sometimes the subjects of the photos themselves) to potentially monetize.

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Ciobanu reported from Warsaw, Poland.

Artist Beeple, Mike Winkelmann, poses inside his installation titled Regular Animals, with robots in the likeness of Elon Musk, left, Kim Jong Un, second left, Pablo Picasso, second right, and Andy Warhol, right, at the Neue Nationalgalerie museum in Berlin, Germany, Tuesday, April 28, 2026. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber)

From left: Robots in the likeness of Kim Jong Un, Mark Zuckerberg, Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk, Beeple, Andy Warhol and Pablo Picasso, displayed at the installation titled Regular Animals by the artist Beeple, Mike Winkelmann, at the Neue Nationalgalerie museum in Berlin, Germany, Tuesday, April 28, 2026. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber)

A Robot in the likeness of Kim Jong Un displayed at the installation titled Regular Animals by artist Beeple, Mike Winkelmann, at the Neue Nationalgalerie museum in Berlin, Germany, Tuesday, April 28, 2026. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber)

Robots in the likeness of Elon Musk, foreground, and Jeff Bezos, left, are displayed at the installation titled Regular Animals by artist Beeple, Mike Winkelmann, at the Neue Nationalgalerie museum in Berlin, Germany, Tuesday, April 28, 2026. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber)

Artist Beeple, Mike Winkelmann, poses inside his installation titled Regular Animals, with robots in the likeness of Kim Jong Un, left, Elon Musk, second left, Kim Jong Un, Jeff Bezos, center, and Mark Zuckerberg, right, at the Neue Nationalgalerie museum in Berlin, Germany, Tuesday, April 28, 2026. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber)

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Formally dressed in a traditional Qatari bisht, Dr. Nasser Mohamed strolled past a crowd of several hundred people outside Chase Center as the England-Croatia World Cup match was shown high above on the big screen. His gold-and-black robe featured a flourish: rainbow piping down each sleeve and the words “love” and “freedom” written in Arabic.

“That’s why the World Cup is really powerful, because people don’t need to hear about who I am — I can just walk, be seen, and that’s it,” he said. “We don’t have to say a word.”

Four years ago, when the World Cup was played in his home country and Mohamed was already living across the world in San Francisco, he came out and became an exceptionally rare openly gay man from Qatar, where gay sex is prohibited and he can't dress how he'd like.

Mohamed is speaking up again for those without a voice. The 39-year-old now feels secure enough to walk around with confidence, and without fear of harm, while wearing chunky heeled boots, mascara and 2-inch dangly earrings. He still gets regular backlash and hate, but he has also found support and kindness from around the globe that helps drown out the death threats and divisiveness.

“I am so loved in San Francisco, really, truly,” Mohamed said of the city he moved to more than a decade ago. “I have not worn this since I was a kid in Qatar, and San Francisco put it back on my shoulders, with rainbows.”

For him, donning the bisht for everyone to see is important: “The emir of Qatar put it on (Lionel) Messi at the last World Cup to celebrate Messi. We should be celebrated too.”

An LGBTQ+ activist and family doctor who treats HIV, “Dr. Nas” — as he is known — launched his “Love is the Goal” campaign ahead of the World Cup and Pride Month, hoping to humanize all people taking part. For a video, he combined soccer lingo with references to love, such as him reading “love is kickoff, the very first touch,” and someone else offering “love is the assist, finding you exactly where you are.”

“Saving a life like mine is very expensive, and I know that, and this is the hard truth,” Mohamed said. “So that’s why I had to pave my own path and get out. I lost everything. I’m disowned completely. I had to build myself from scratch, the ground up, all of it.”

On Wednesday, Qatar plays its final group-stage match, against Bosnia-Herzegovina in Seattle. Mohamed won't be there, but he was at the team's first game, on June 13 in Santa Clara, California. He had clear and visible security, and was escorted by California state Sen. Scott Wiener to the 1-1 draw with Switzerland. A photo from the day has more than 12 million views on social media.

“As I was passing, everybody was taking pictures of me with the senator,” he recalled. “It was so dramatic.”

And emotional.

“In the stadium I couldn’t speak because if I started talking I’m not going to stop crying, because when am I going to see Qatar again in my life?” Mohamed said through tears. “When is it ever going to happen again? I don’t know. When am I going to see home? I can’t see Mom and Dad, even when they were getting hit by missiles.”

After the game, he hosted a dance party at the San Francisco Mint highlighted by a performance “Let Your Love Shine,” written by close friend Simon Tam and sung by Debby Holiday.

“Nas’ journey moves me because it is rooted in extraordinary courage and an enormous heart,” Tam said. “He’s taken his own truth and turned it into a way to help others feel seen, worthy, and less alone.”

Tam believes Mohamed can change the world — and that's the doctor's hope, too.

“The first step to heal is to witness things the way they are,” Mohamed said. “My endgame is for every child to belong with their own family and their own society.”

Still, it breaks his heart knowing he can't go back to Qatar. Mohamed has been ostracized by his own family because of his sexuality and for standing up to power to help others. For those in need, including a transgender woman who had been imprisoned and tortured, he has aided their moves out of Qatar and secured resources so they could rebuild their lives elsewhere.

Mohamed is thankful for this new existence, embracing the obstacles that come with his work, even as he believes his safety could be at stake.

“We all fled persecution and took political asylum in the U.S., and now we invited all of them to come here to play soccer,” he said. “I didn’t feel safe leaving my apartment.”

Still, after everything, he roots for Qatar — and the Americans. He plans to watch the U.S. during the round of 32 next week in Santa Clara.

“I am cheering for both the United States and for Qatar with love,” he said. “They both had homes for me and, when I challenge either of them, it is out of love, and I mean it.”

AP World Cup: https://apnews.com/fifa-world-cup

Dr. Nasser Mohamed, of Qatar, is photographed, Wednesday, June 17, 2026, in San Francisco. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)

Dr. Nasser Mohamed, of Qatar, is photographed, Wednesday, June 17, 2026, in San Francisco. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)

Dr. Nasser Mohamed, of Qatar, is photographed, Wednesday, June 17, 2026, in San Francisco. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)

Dr. Nasser Mohamed, of Qatar, is photographed, Wednesday, June 17, 2026, in San Francisco. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)

Dr. Nasser Mohamed, of Qatar, is photographed, Wednesday, June 17, 2026, in San Francisco. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)