Designing AI Experiences:

Written By Isla King

Lessons from Museums, Galleries, and Festivals

Where Culture Meets AI and Audience Engagement Deepens

Cultural organisations have always pushed the boundaries of how people connect with knowledge, stories, and creativity. Today, they’re also becoming proving grounds for artificial intelligence, not as a hidden backend tool, but as part of the visitor experience itself.

In these spaces, AI isn’t about efficiency or automation. It’s about building moments of discovery, encouraging dialogue, and creating a sense of participation. When done well, AI becomes an extension of curatorial practice: guiding, interpreting, and opening new avenues of access.

 

Real-World Inspirations

1. Cambridge Museum of Zoology – AI Conversations with Specimens

Visitors can now “talk” to animal exhibits through AI-powered QR codes. Whether asking the dodo about extinction or a red panda about its habitat, the system responds with educational and engaging insights. The project not only personalises the visit but also encourages curiosity in ways traditional display labels cannot.

2. Museum of Art & Photography (MAP), Bengaluru – Digital Persona of M.F. Husain

MAP has created a conversational AI version of one of India’s most celebrated artists, complete with a holographic presence in the museum. Audiences can ask “Husain” about his inspirations, challenges, and artworks. It’s more than a novelty, it allows visitors to step into a dialogue with history, bridging generations and contexts.

3. Science Museum Group & British Museum – Linking and Conversing with Collections

Projects like Heritage Connector (Science Museum Group) and the British Museum’s Living Museum initiative use AI to reveal hidden links across vast collections. Visitors can converse with the system, ask questions, and follow contextual threads that traditional catalogues leave disconnected. The result is an exploratory journey shaped by each visitor’s curiosity.

 

Why These Approaches Work

What makes these initiatives effective is not the technology itself, but the way it is framed and experienced:

  • Immersion through interaction: Visitors become active participants, whether conversing with a specimen or following a trail through linked artefacts.

  • Layered accessibility: AI adapts content for different audiences, making collections more inclusive for younger visitors, non-specialists, or those with different learning needs.

  • Personalisation at scale: No two experiences are identical, each visitor’s path through the material is shaped by their own questions and curiosity.

 

Watchpoints in Cultural AI Design

Of course, challenges remain. These projects highlight the importance of:

  • Reliability: A glitching hologram or broken chatbot risks undermining trust in both technology and the host institution.

  • Transparency: Visitors need to know when content is AI-generated, when it is curatorial fact, and when interpretation blurs the line.

  • Simplicity: Over-engineering can intimidate or exclude audiences who come to connect with culture, not to learn a new interface.

 

Final Take: AI as a Cultural Dialogue

From talking to extinct animals, to exploring collections through personalised questions, to engaging with the recreated presence of a beloved artist, these projects show that AI can amplify cultural experiences, not by replacing the human touch, but by deepening it.

For other sectors, these lessons are just as relevant. Museums and cultural spaces demonstrate that AI adoption is not about novelty, but about creating experiences that are trustworthy, resilient, and meaningful.

By treating AI as a partner in storytelling, cultural organisations remind us that technology is at its most powerful when it serves as a dialogue, not a monologue.

Isla King
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