The University of Cambridge’s Museum of Zoology is opening a new experience that lets guests have two-way chats with dead animals on display through artificial intelligence (AI).
From tomorrow (15 October), guests at the museum can chat to 13 specimens, including a dodo skeleton, a taxidermied red panda, and a preserved cockroach.
Other specimens featured in the experience include a narwhal skeleton, a freeze-dried platypus, brain coral, and a taxidermied huia – an extinct bird from New Zealand.
“This is an amazing opportunity for people to test out an emerging technology in our inspiring museum setting, and we also hope to learn something about how our visitors see the animals on display,” said Jack Ashby, assistant director of the Museum of Zoology.
Chat to 13 specimens at Museum of Zoology
“Our whole purpose is to get people engaged with the natural world. So we’re curious to see whether this will work, and whether chatting to the animals will change people’s attitudes towards them – will the cockroach be better liked, for example, as a result of having its voice heard?”
To activate the experience, guests can scan a QR code near each exhibit to open a chat box on their phones. They can then ask questions and receive answers from the animals.
Developed by Nature Perspectives, the AI technology used for the experience brings together all available information on each animal involved, which is repackaged from a first-person perspective to provide realistic and meaningful conversations with the specimens.
The specimens can adjust their tone and language to suit the age of the person they are talking to. Also, they can speak over 20 languages including Spanish and Japanese.
AI interactions in museums
“By using AI to simulate non-human perspectives, our technology offers a novel way for audiences to connect with the natural world,” said Gal Zanir, co-founder of Nature Perspectives.
“One of the most magical aspects of the simulations is that they’re age-adaptive. For the first time, visitors of all ages will be able to ask the specimens anything they like.”
Earlier this year, Florida’s Dalí Museum launched the Ask Dalí experience, which allows visitors to ask the Spanish Surrealist artist questions and receive replies through AI.
Elsewhere, Bletchley Park is creating an AI life-sized version of Alan Turing for a new interactive experience.
The AI experiment at the Museum of Zoology runs from 15 October through 15 November.
