Artificial intelligence, untapped potential in museums
Only 30% of institutions use it and in an unstructured way, according to the PoliMi Observatory
3' min read
Key points
3' min read
Artificial intelligence, slow ahead: only 30% of Italian museums, monuments and archaeological sites use it (compared to 20% last year). But use is predominantly individual (26%) on the part of employees who use generalist tools (from ChatGpt, Gemini, etc.) for their own activities. On the other hand, in terms of more structured initiatives, we are still in our infancy: only 1% of museums and theatres have already started projects with IAGen, and 6% of museum and 5% of theatre institutions say they are investing in this area.
The crucial problem of structured data
."There are two major steps to be addressed. The first concerns data. An organisation that does not have a structured database on its assets obviously cannot feed the Ai,' explains Eleonora Lorenzini, director of the Digital Innovation in Culture Observatory at the Politecnico di Milano. The survey, which will be presented today in Milan, points out how, however, the lack of a data strategy and the unavailability of data in the right format to be processed are perceived as obstacles to the adoption of AI by only 9% of museums and 12% of theatres, whereas probably, the Politecnico scholars assess, this is the real crux of the problem for fully exploiting the opportunities of this technology.
What skills for Ai?
."The second aspect concerns skills. On this we are working hard to understand both those that will be most impacted by a possible substitution effect,' Lorenzini explains, 'and the augmentation effect, i.e. how human skills will be enhanced by Ai and how to take advantage of it.
Alongside the more intuitable technical user skills, there is also a need to develop - reports the Politecnico di Milano document - the ability to interface with technology providers by understanding their language and being able to transfer specific needs to them. Hybrid figures such as digital humanists would therefore be necessary for many stakeholders.
The most widespread applications of artificial intelligence concern internal staff and consist mainly of content creation activities (69%) and operational support for improved individual productivity (56%). New Ia assistants integrated in graphics software speed up image manipulation, allowing creatives to spend more time developing new concepts. Ai-based advertising tool suites enable organisations to manage communication on different social media in an integrated way with customised ads, leading to often significant improvements in campaign results.
