In East and Southeast Asia, UNESCO is addressing these questions through TechCul Dialogues: AI and the Future of Culture, a regional initiative launched in March 2026 at the 5th Creativity 2030 International Forum in Beijing. The initiative was created to foster dialogue, collaboration and policy innovation at the intersection of artificial intelligence and culture. It brings together cultural institutions, researchers, policymakers, creative professionals, civil society and technology actors through a ten-month series of thematic discussions.

The programme covers ten areas, ranging from tangible and intangible cultural heritage to museums and collections, film, performing arts, visual arts, publishing, literature and languages, creative cities and cultural heritage conservation.

The first session, “Museums and Collections”, took place online on 17 September 2026, placing museums at the centre of a wider conversation about how AI could reshape cultural institutions while preserving their social and educational responsibilities.

From Collection Management to Visitor Experience

The first TechCul webinar examined how museums are already experimenting with AI in several areas of their work. These include collection management, visitor engagement, accessibility and curatorial practice. Rather than treating AI simply as a new technological tool, the discussion considered how its adoption can affect the relationship between museums, their collections and the public.

One of the central questions was how AI can improve access to collections. Digital technologies can make information about objects available to audiences beyond the physical museum, potentially allowing people in different countries or communities to explore collections that would otherwise be geographically inaccessible. This is particularly relevant in a region as culturally and geographically diverse as East and Southeast Asia.

The webinar also asked how AI-generated content and automated interpretation could influence the way cultural objects are presented. If algorithms begin contributing to the interpretation of an artwork, historical artefact or heritage object, questions arise about accuracy, context and authority. UNESCO therefore encouraged participants to consider not only what AI can do, but also who should decide how cultural objects are represented.

The discussion specifically invited examples of how museums have involved source communities, local artists and people with disabilities in developing AI-related projects. This emphasis is significant because cultural collections do not exist independently from the communities and histories from which they originate.

In this sense, the webinar placed technological innovation within a broader discussion about cultural rights and representation.

A Regional Conversation, Not a Single-Museum Experiment

The TechCul initiative is particularly significant because it is designed as a regional cooperation mechanism, rather than as a series of isolated experiments by individual museums.

According to UNESCO, the programme runs over ten months and covers ten thematic areas. Practitioners, researchers, policymakers, cultural institutions, creative professionals, civil society organisations and private-sector partners can contribute cases and experiences. Selected submissions may subsequently be presented during webinars or documented as case studies on UNESCO platforms.

This structure reflects the increasingly international nature of discussions around AI and culture. Museums across East and Southeast Asia operate within very different institutional, technological and financial contexts. Sharing experiences can therefore help identify solutions that are adaptable to institutions with different levels of digital infrastructure and resources.

The regional dimension also has a cultural significance. UNESCO's work in Asia and the Pacific encompasses a region with 116 elements of intangible cultural heritage and safeguarding practices, 45 UNESCO Creative Cities, 73 Global Geoparks and 56 heritage documentaries inscribed on the Memory of the World Regional Register.

For museums, the challenge is therefore not simply how to digitise collections. It is how to ensure that digital transformation reflects the diversity of the histories, languages and communities represented within those collections.

AI and the Question of Cultural Authority

The debate surrounding AI in museums also connects with a broader UNESCO discussion that has developed throughout 2026. In May, UNESCO and the International Council of Museums (ICOM) launched a global survey on the use of AI in museums, open from 21 May to 21 July to museums of all types and sizes worldwide. The survey aimed to collect concrete examples and baseline data on how museums are using AI in their operations.

The initiative also examines how museums are implementing the 2021 UNESCO Recommendation on the Ethics of Artificial Intelligence and the ICOM Code of Ethics for Museums. UNESCO and ICOM plan to use the results to develop an evidence-based report identifying trends, challenges and case studies, with the aim of informing future capacity-building and policy recommendations.

The timing is significant. UNESCO's March 2026 Futures Dialogue on AI and Culture had already identified a series of challenges associated with artificial intelligence, including copyright, remuneration for artists, algorithmic bias, unequal access to technology and the possibility that AI systems could reproduce dominant cultural narratives. At the same time, the discussion recognised AI's potential to support the digitisation of archives, virtual reconstruction of damaged heritage sites and wider access to museum collections.

The museum debate is therefore part of a much larger question: how can technological innovation expand access to culture without weakening human creativity, cultural diversity or the authority of the communities represented?

Museums as Spaces for Intercultural Dialogue

The TechCul Dialogues also build on UNESCO's broader understanding of museums as spaces for dialogue between cultures. In Southeast Asia, for example, UNESCO's Shared Heritage: Museums in South-East Asia project brings together ten museums from Brunei Darussalam, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand to explore the region's interconnected histories. The three-year project, running from July 2024 to September 2027, focuses on shared cultural connections created through trade, migration, religious exchange and movement across borders.

Its upcoming virtual exhibition, Along Animal Trails: Creations that Bind South-East Asia, will feature 120 objects from the participating museums and is scheduled to launch in November 2026. UNESCO's research for the exhibition has revealed how objects and artistic motifs travelled across maritime trade routes, demonstrating that cultural heritage often extends beyond modern national borders.

This context helps explain why discussions about AI in museums are also discussions about cultural diplomacy. Digital tools can connect institutions across borders, but they can also influence how histories are narrated and whose perspectives become visible.

The TechCul Dialogues therefore place technological change within a distinctly human framework. The objective is not simply to make museums more digital, but to explore how technology can support institutions in preserving knowledge, expanding access and encouraging dialogue while respecting cultural diversity.

A New Chapter for Museums

The first Museums and Collections session of TechCul Dialogues illustrates a broader transformation taking place across the cultural sector. Artificial intelligence is no longer only a subject for technology specialists. It is becoming part of discussions involving curators, historians, artists, policymakers, researchers and communities.

For UNESCO, the challenge is to ensure that this transformation remains inclusive and responsible. The questions raised by the September webinar — from accessibility and visitor engagement to automated interpretation and community participation — demonstrate that the future of museums will depend not only on technological capacity but also on decisions about ethics, representation and cultural authority.

As the TechCul Dialogues continue with further thematic sessions, the initiative offers an opportunity for cultural institutions across East and Southeast Asia to compare experiences and develop approaches to AI together. In doing so, UNESCO is treating technology not as an end in itself, but as a subject for international cooperation.

The future museum may be increasingly digital, but the questions at its heart remain deeply human: whose stories are preserved, who has access to them, and who has the authority to tell them?

• https://www.unesco.org/en/articles/mark-your-calendar-techcul-dialogues-webinar-session-1-museums-and-collections
• https://www.unesco.org/en/articles/ai-and-culture