What it is about
On 30 October we will be in Turin to present AI Compass for Cultural Heritage, the research we carried out with the University of Turin, at the international conference Generative AI and Cultural Heritage. The conference takes place on 29 and 30 October 2026 and is organised by the University of Turin together with the Communication University of China and The Chinese University of Hong Kong. The research will be presented by Alessia Tripaldi, Director of Training and Research at Sineglossa and co-author of AI Compass, who will speak at the roundtable on the opportunities and challenges of generative AI for cultural institutions.
The conference
The conference brings together scholars and practitioners from Europe, Asia and North America to reflect on how generative AI is transforming cultural heritage. At its centre is the concept of synthetic heritage (Nieto McAvoy & Kidd, 2024): the use of generative AI to blend authentic historical elements with artificial content. It opens up new ways of engaging the public, but also raises questions about accuracy, hallucinations and the reliability of sources.
The conference is organised by Simone Natale (University of Turin), Deqiang Ji and Dianlin Huang (Communication University of China) and Anthony Fung (The Chinese University of Hong Kong). It is hosted by the Scuola di Studi Superiori Ferdinando Rossi of the University of Turin and sponsored by the journal Global Media and China (SAGE).
The programme
Thursday 29 October, 2:00–6:30 pm
Sala Lauree, Department of Psychology, Palazzo Badini Confalonieri, Via Verdi 10, Turin
- 2:15 pm: Panel 1, Synthetic Evidence: Hallucination, Misinformation, and Visual Heritage
- 4:00 pm: Panel 2, Synthetic Pasts: Memory, Mourning, and Cultural Identity
- 5:30 pm: Keynote by Eva Nieto McAvoy (King’s College London), AI Afterlives: The Making of Synthetic Heritage
Friday 30 October, 9:30 am–6:30 pm
Sala Lauree, Complesso Aldo Moro, Via Sant’Ottavio 18, Turin
- 9:30 am: Panel 3, Heritage Institutions and AI Mediation: Archives, Museums, and Chatbots
- 11:15 am: Roundtable Generative AI: Opportunities and Challenges for Cultural Heritage Institutions, with Alessia Tripaldi (Sineglossa)
- 2:15 pm: Panel 4, Living Heritage: Participation, Safeguarding, and Algorithmic Authenticity
- 4:00 pm: Panel 5, Governing AI Heritage: Sovereignty, Locality, and Contested Knowledge
- 5:30 pm: Closing roundtable, Generative AI, media and cultural heritage in a global perspective
The full programme is available on the conference website [link to be added].
Sineglossa's contribution
On Friday 30 October, from 11:15 am to 12:30 pm, Alessia Tripaldi, Director of Training and Research at Sineglossa, will take part in the roundtable Generative AI: Opportunities and Challenges for Cultural Heritage Institutions. The other discussants are Simona Casonato (Museo Nazionale della Scienza e della Tecnologia Leonardo da Vinci), Rossana Damiano (University of Turin), Dianlin Huang and Deqiang Ji (Communication University of China). The session is moderated by Enrico Natale (Infoclio).
Alessia Tripaldi will present AI Compass for Cultural Heritage. Reflections for a Conscious Adoption of Generative AI, the research carried out by Sineglossa and the University of Turin and edited by Alessia Tripaldi, Simone Natale and Luca Befera. Based on interviews with professionals in the sector and the analysis of case studies, the research offers museums, archives and libraries a compass to navigate the opportunities and risks of generative AI. It also includes recommendations for designing interventions that are sustainable, ethical and consistent with each institution’s mission. It was carried out as part of the project PE 0000020 CHANGES, funded by the European Union – NextGenerationEU.
The research is also archived on Zenodo.
Sineglossa's work on AI and cultural heritage
Since 2018 Sineglossa has been experimenting with artificial intelligence as a cultural tool. We start from a conviction: AI is not neutral, because it shapes what becomes visible and how people access knowledge. Alongside research, we work on training. Generative Heritage, with Fondazione Fitzcarraldo, the Generativa academy, for artists, professionals in the cultural and creative sector and GLAM and cultural and creative institutions, and Rigenerativa, aimed at the organisations of the Lo Stato dei Luoghi network, have involved artists and cultural professionals. Degenerativa, currently under way, supports 18 artists under 35 in the critical use of AI in artistic research.
With museums, archives and foundations we design chatbots and AI-based installations, always as the outcome of a process shared with the people who know the collections. Our specific contribution is characterisation: giving each assistant a voice, a personality and a way of conversing that reflect the institution’s identity. Eugenie, an experimental prototype developed through a research project with the University of Turin for the Museo Nazionale del Cinema, is a magic lantern that evokes the origins of cinema. She is an elderly lady, warm and sociable, who uses old-fashioned language and guides visitors through the collections with her anecdotes: a character born from workshops with the museum staff, designed and facilitated by Sineglossa. OLO, the conversational agent built on the Olivetti archives and on the magazine Mangrovia, created with TIM Enterprise and the Politecnico di Torino for the exhibition Dati Sensibili, is instead an “alien” entity that does not simulate a human and seeks dialogue rather than agreement; it will be presented at the conference by the Associazione Archivio Storico Olivetti. With Qui, the installation for the Monte Sole Historical Park, we produced a chatbot that returns the testimonies on the Marzabotto massacres without rewriting them.
Recent projects
What we can do together
We support museums, archives, libraries and cultural organisations that want to define an artificial intelligence strategy, train their staff or develop an AI-based tool. Rather than generic training on tools, we offer programmes tailored to each organisation, starting from real roles and work processes. The goal is not to use more AI, but to enable each person to choose whether, where and how to use it, and to give the organisation shared rules for both using and not using AI.
This is the method we applied with the Museo Nazionale del Risorgimento Italiano: a programme of training, consultancy and co-design with the staff that led to a feasibility study for a chatbot and to the Manifesto for the conscious use of AI. With this document, the museum is among the first institutions in Italy to adopt an ethical framework dedicated to artificial intelligence.
We offer workshops to get oriented in AI, develop soft skills and build AI governance, as well as co-design programmes for chatbots for collections and archives. We also work with organisations as a specialised training and consultancy provider within calls for funding and European and national projects.
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