AI and Curation: Digitization, Museums and Digital Art History

Abstract

Digitization and the value attached to it have been challenged by the advent of generative artificial intelligence (AI) in recent years. As museums and cultural heritage institutions begin to embrace a wider range of uses for AI tools, urgent questions have arisen around the role of the curator in arts and culture. What happens to the positioning of the curator as a figure of discernment and creativity when faced with automation through generative AI? This article investigates the discourse around digitization and the turn toward AI technologies, particularly in the field of digital art history. There is a growing split between those in digital art history who are interested in the application of AI in digital collections versus those focused on critique and analysis of AI tools themselves. In the past, curatorial use of AI has revolved around methods of categorization and ordering for digitized collections in museums and cultural heritage institutions. More recently, however, curatorial implementation of generative AI also involves creative remixing of digital collections and exhibition-making. The role of the curator, therefore, is shifting in the post-AI landscape.