Museums have been experimenting with storytelling techniques since their inception, but it is only recently, with the advent of cell phones and other technologies, that their storytelling techniques were finally transformed into a personalized and truly unique endeavor.
With each new technological advancement, cultural institutions face an opportunity to expand the scope and quality of the visitor experience. This often pushes museums to shift towards new territories, while also adapting to new needs (both technical and social) at the time of crafting engaging narratives. Today’s museums are therefore continuously evolving into hubs of interaction and engagement, where the role of a storyteller is equally as relevant as that of a curator or a specialist.
And the reasons are there to be seen. Visitors today expect more than static exhibits; they want immersion. They desire opportunities to engage, question, and explore in ways that feel personal and meaningful.
Artificial intelligence (AI), despite all the daily noise associated with it, has the potential to provide additional possibilities for accessible narratives for museums. Exhibits can now react to visitor input, creating stories and educational content that feels alive. Today’s audience, especially Millennials and Gen Z, desire a little twist or personalization, and with AI, exhibits can become more dynamic and even feel like open dialogues. Institutions now have the capability to create tailored experiences that respond to the context and curiosity of every individual.
AI systems are without a doubt changing how museums think about storytelling. By analyzing patterns and preferences, or responding to unique questions and prompts, displays can shift focus or explore different perspectives, which has the potential to create an even more memorable journey than the traditional museum visit.
For example, a visitor interested in ancient mythology could explore a collection with personalized insights not available to the general audience.
How AI Changes Storytelling in Museums
Interactive storytelling transforms the way institutions share narratives and increases the scope and outreach of their institutional vision. AI allows for individual interaction with content, making exhibits specifically relevant to each visitor. Consider the Museum of Tomorrow in Rio de Janeiro which uses an AI-driven chatbot to create discussions around sustainability where visitors are asked about their daily consumption practices. Rather than delivering generic information, the exhibit reacts to the visitor's questions and inquires about their practices. This makes complex topics feel accessible,meaningful, and relevant on a personal level
Another example is the São Paulo Art Gallery, which has implemented an AI system called IBM Watson to create interactive conversations between visitors and artworks. This system allows guests to ask questions about the art, prompting AI-generated responses that provide deeper insights into artistic techniques and their historical contexts and interpretations. By giving a "voice" to the pieces, this approach transforms objects into active agents, encouraging visitors to engage with the works in ways that feel natural and dynamic.
Similarly, the Norwegian National Museum has used AI-powered image recognition to categorize and tag thousands of paintings, allowing visitors to explore collections based on themes or artistic styles. This feature helps audiences discover new connections between artworks and offers curators an additional tool for reimagining exhibition layouts.
Accessibility and Inclusion
Traditional physical and educational barriers often exclude certain groups of visitors, especially in museums that may seem too big or crowded for comfort, or even in smaller ones, that lack the resources to tackle the various and ever-changing requirements around accessibility and inclusion. AI tools can help break down these obstacles to further ensure that museums become welcoming spaces for all.
A variety of AI systems provide language translation to help foreign visitors and non-native speakers navigate exhibits with ease. Institutions like the Heard Museum in Arizona, have leveraged Cuseum’s AI-driven translation features to produce translations and offer content for the Navajo community. Vizcaya Museum & Gardens in Miami have been able to serve communities in various languages including Spanish, Portuguese, and Haitian Creole as delivered through their Cuseum-powered mobile guide. With the help of AI, languages can be preserved and utilized for museum tours, not only serving as a tool for cultural protection, but also as a way to engage and connect with historically underserved populations
For visually impaired guests, AI-powered descriptions offer auditory access to visual displays. These innovations ensure that more individuals feel included in cultural spaces and aren’t limited by budgets or time constraints of hiring consultants to produce
The National Museums of World Culture in Sweden is currently studying, in partnership with Wallenberg AI, the potential of AI storytelling to expand the ways in which Swedish heritage can be showcased to audiences from different backgrounds. By leveraging text descriptions that are fully dynamic thanks to AI, they are taking a closer look at how to invite global audiences to explore their archives without traveling and offering a lively experience that is adaptable for academic or leisure needs.
The MIT Museum in Massachusetts uses AI-driven experiences, like in their recent AI: Mind the GAP exhibit, to teach visitors about science and technology in quirky ways, more enjoyable for children or people not accustomed to these types of cultural settings. These efforts highlight how museums can use AI to engage diverse audiences in truly unique and inclusive ways.
Making Content Dynamic
Exhibits that can respond to visitor preferences may allow museums to realize the maximum potential of their artifacts and collections. AI tools bring dynamism to museum storytelling by transforming content in real-time where no two experiences are alike. For example, Pepper, the humanoid robot at the Smithsonian, provides personalized visits based on a few choices each visitor makes before entering the museum. It also verbally answers questions and interacts with visitors in a way that feels almost human.
Digital platforms also benefit from these advancements, and often propitiate them. Programs like Transkribus are allowing institutions to digitize and analyze historic written files, which can later be manipulated and redacted for a more flexible narrative approach. By creating searchable databases, museums give visitors the tools to explore collections independently, and allow themselves the chance to experiment with their own collections in ways previously unimaginable.
This interactive approach helps people connect with materials in ways that reflect their interests and constructs the basis for a new storytelling methodology, able to apply the museum resources without having to risk affecting its durability.
The Role of AI in Curation
Artificial intelligence has shown to be a particularly effective tool for helping curators manage large collections and design exhibits. As mentioned earlier, at the Museum für Naturkunde, AI was used to process over 250,000 insect specimen tags. The system identified patterns and relationships that would have been impossible for humans to uncover manually. This process, applauded as completely groundbreaking in the field of cataloging and biological filing, enriched the exhibit’s narrative and provided new ways for visitors to engage with the material.
The Musée des Hospitalières in Montreal provides another interesting case study. This institution is using AI to catalog its archives systematically, but its focus lies more on seeing which pieces and artifacts have not been previously used in certain ways. This allows the museum staff to prepare exhibitions that are comprehensive and well-researched, and that also feel fresh. These tools simultaneously reduce the workload for curators, enabling them to focus more time on storytelling and creative decisions.
Addressing Ethical Considerations
The use of AI in museums evidently comes with challenges. Systems trained on limited or biased data may unintentionally misrepresent stories. In order to avoid such hallucinations, museums must ensure their AI tools reflect accurate, diverse perspectives. Transparency is also essential, and you must make sure you are not playing with any unauthorized data. Visitors should know when they are interacting with AI and understand how it shapes the content they see.
Collaboration between museum professionals and technologists can address these concerns. Ethical frameworks, some of which already exist, help guide the use of AI to ensure it enhances, rather than diminishes, the authenticity of exhibits. Human oversight remains critical in refining AI outputs to align with institutional values.
Future Directions for AI in Museums
The potential for AI in cultural storytelling is vast, and most of it is yet to be developed. As this technology advances, new possibilities will emerge and institutions will find ways to adapt their storytelling methodologies to engage, educate, and entertain their audiences. AI systems could guide visitors through personalized tours based on their interests, or could create human-like tour guides, similar to the ones mentioned before, that react to the visitors' input in real-time environments.
Institutions that embrace AI thoughtfully will without a doubt position themselves as leaders in innovation. They will create environments where visitors feel both challenged and inspired. By combining tradition with technology, museums can remain relevant in a rapidly changing world.
Just consider the speed at which AI storytelling capabilities have accelerated dramatically, even in the past year. Advancements in generative AI, natural language processing, grammatical syntax, and visual placement, driven by OpenAI, DeepSeek, Gemini, and other cutting-edge models, have led to more adaptable and context-aware tools that open the gates of an everchanging storytelling landscape.
From tailoring content to improving accessibility, AI offers engagement opportunities that were unimaginable just a decade ago. However, as mentioned, thoughtful implementation is crucial to ensure these innovations respect the integrity of the stories being told and are well-received by their audiences.
The future of museum storytelling and AI probably lies in collaboration. By combining the strengths of human creativity with the capabilities of AI, cultural institutions can create spaces that inspire and educate.
As museums continue to explore these possibilities, they reaffirm their role as essential places for learning and connection, and extend their historical importance for the years to come.
See how you can incorporate AI storytelling techniques into your museum exhibits