Florence Okoye
UX designer
“There’s lots of exciting potential for tools powered by machine learning – let’s not call it artificial intelligence (AI), hype-merchants – in the sector. Being able to quickly create prototypes and so on could massively increase efficiency and inclusivity. But given we’re a sector with significant inequalities, and automation has generally meant lower-quality outcomes rather than actually empowering employees, I suspect it will mean further decline in conditions and more work to combat toxic fallout.”
Linda Spurdle
Digital development manager, Birmingham Museums Trust
“AI is going to provide museums with an exciting set of tools that will enable them to be more user focused; data driven; creative; collaborative and enhance research. These possibilities will have the most positive impact on those museums that don’t have specialist staff or resources to develop areas of work that they know would benefit their organisation, communities and collections. The key to the potential of AI is understanding the possibilities. Start to experiment early.”
Frances Liddell
Lecturer in cultural practices, University of Manchester
“ChatGPT has shown how exciting AI can be, but anyone who has played around with it will know that it is not always correct. What this means for museums and galleries is an ever-pressing need to be aware of the biases and data that underpins technologies. AI could be the next frontier for the museum experience, but we need to be aware of how these technologies are created and what this might mean for future interpretation.”
