Museums Embrace AI: UNESCO Survey Reveals Gaps in Policies, Skills and Public Trust

The survey covered more than 400 museums across 90 countries, offering a broad picture of adoption among participating institutions.

Artificial intelligence is finding its way into museum offices, collections research and exhibition planning, raising questions about how institutions can use it responsibly. The first UNESCO–International Council of Museums (ICOM) Global Survey on the Use of AI in Museums found that 57% of responding museums already use the technology, and 55% have no internal AI policy, strategy or guidelines, revealing a gap between experimentation and institutional preparation.

The survey covered more than 400 museums across 90 countries, offering a broad picture of adoption among participating institutions. Its findings are scheduled for presentation at the Global Forum on the Ethics of Artificial Intelligence 2026 in Riyadh on 17 September, alongside accounts of AI use from museums in Brazil, Egypt and Kenya.

AI Enters Museum Work Through Everyday Tasks

Museums reported using AI for administration, translation, collections research, documentation, exhibition development and visitor engagement, showing how its role extends across both public-facing activities and work behind the scenes. Much of that use remains exploratory or driven by individual staff members, leaving institution-wide approaches less developed than the growing range of practical experiments.

UNESCO Assistant Director-General for Culture Nayef Al-Fayez described a sector in which experimentation is moving faster than institutional capacity and governance. UNESCO's support will focus on helping museums develop the skills, policies and ethical frameworks needed to decide when and how AI can serve their cultural, educational and social responsibilities.

Unequal Resources Shape Who Can Take Part

Access to AI remains uneven because museums operate with different levels of funding, digital infrastructure, technical capacity and specialist support. Institutions facing persistent digital and economic inequalities have fewer opportunities to explore the technology, making resources and expertise central to any discussion about its wider adoption.

Accuracy, copyright and data protection emerged as leading concerns among respondents, reflecting the responsibilities museums carry when researching collections and sharing knowledge with the public. Museums requested training and guidance covering technical and ethical AI use, data governance and intellectual property rights, identifying practical areas where additional support is needed.

Ethical Guidance Must Catch Up With Experimentation

ICOM Director General Medea S. Eckner emphasized the questions of ethics, trust and professional responsibility surrounding museums' experiments with AI. The organization's newly revised Code of Ethics explicitly addresses digital technologies, and ICOM wants museum values and expertise to help shape responsible AI development and use.

The UNESCO–ICOM report will inform operational and policy guidance for UNESCO Member States and museum professionals, drawing on UNESCO's 2015 Recommendation on museums and collections, its 2021 Recommendation on AI ethics and the ICOM Code of Ethics. The findings will also guide UNESCO's capacity-building programmes, helping turn the needs identified by museums into support for more informed institutional decisions.