At the AI Impact Summit 2026, two of my longstanding preoccupations, advancement in AI and art, intersected at the OpenAI Summit ‘Reimagining Cultural Heritage.’ The morning of 20 February 2026 brought together technologists, journalists, artists and entrepreneurs to witness something uncanny and, for the first time in India, to address a two-thousand-year-old terracotta marvel with a question spoken aloud, and receive in return a carefully structured, broken-down-to-our-intellect answer explaining the intricacies of the work’s history, process and grandeur, courtesy of Ask Mona.
Ask Mona is a visionary enterprise by Marion Carré, which transforms artworks into engaging conversations through trustworthy and conversational AI.
Like many who are deeply moved and invested in the arts, I, too, reserved my judgment about introducing AI into museums and galleries; beside the artworks that had stood the testament of time, preserving history. However, I had the privilege of speaking with the founder and CEO, Marion Carré, for my article published at Art Culture Festival, wherein I understood that rather than “changing” museums’ processes, Ask Mona’s focus is to democratize knowledge, to dissolve the quiet intimidation that walks in with every visitor who fears they either “get it” or they don’t. I believe this truly is a feat in transforming how museums are experienced.
The project stands at the Sanskriti Museum of Indian Terracotta in New Delhi, bringing historic and intricate knowledge of these objects into closer reach, drawing people towards heritage and art, one QR code at a time.
You can read my article here: https://lnkd.in/dqq-4trN
P.S.: It was Ask Mona’s recent implementation at the Kiran Nadar Museum of Art’s remarkable Tyeb Mehta exhibition that brought this memory rushing back. Congratulations to the whole team. I cannot wait to visit.
AVNI JAIN 