by Maris Ensing, Mad Systems
Museums and visitor centers are undergoing a high-tech transformation. Instead of considering virtual or augmented reality, there is the option to turn to artificial intelligence (AI) and smart technology to revolutionize how visitors experience their exhibits, with technology that provides AI safeguards to avoid any of the potential pitfalls of the technology.
Integrating safe and controllable AI into attractions will become a significant trend as operators explore data-driven personalization and other emerging tech to meet rising guest expectations. The result is a new kind of museum visit, one that is hyperpersonalized, adaptive, seamless, and inclusive, catering to modern, tech-savvy audiences.
Adaptive personalization through AI
A key innovation is AI-driven personalization that tailors content to each visitor. Imagine an exhibit that recognizes a returning visitor or detects a family with children and then adjusts the information it presents accordingly.
Using tools like RFID tags, mobile apps, or even (private and secure) facial recognition, next-gen systems can identify visitors and deliver media suited to their interests in the language and style of their choice.
For example, Mad Systems, an award-winning AV and interactive integrator, has developed a patented AI-powered technology that pulls from a curated knowledge base to present exhibit content in a visitor’s preferred context.
Whether through STEM-focused facts, Shakespeare’s prose, or even a dose of Homer Simpson’s humor, every visitor can receive a unique narrative matched to their tastes.
The system provides for a large number of different languages. It will also provide different amounts and depths of content depending on whether the visitor has indicated if they are a Streaker (least content), a Stroller (a medium amount of content), or a Student (for maximum content). Content can be agespecific.
This goes far beyond the old one-size-fits-all audio guide. By integrating AI with flexible media systems, museums can turn each interaction into a highly personalized experience, delivering the right content to the right person at the right time.
Such adaptive storytelling keeps guests engaged and causes them to return, as they feel the exhibit speaks to them.
Smart visitor management enhances flow and engagement
AI is also changing how museums manage visitor flow and engagement behind the scenes.
Instead of guests shuffling through crowded galleries or waiting in long lines, smart systems can optimize the experience in real time. One approach is the use of virtual queueing and timing solutions.
Beyond queues, AI-driven analytics can adjust operations on the fly to prevent bottlenecks. Museums can use AI-powered recommendation engines that suggest less busy exhibits or personalized tour routes, keeping guests moving happily rather than bunching up.
These smart management tools maintain a smooth visitor flow and boost engagement by freeing visitors to explore more content instead of standing idle. Thanks to AI quietly orchestrating logistics in the background, the overall effect is a more relaxed, enjoyable visit for both guests and staff.
Immersive experiences without headsets
Creating immersive environments can mean deploying VR headsets or AR overlays, but these can be isolating, cumbersome, or inaccessible to some visitors. Now, museums are leveraging non-traditional displays, advanced audiovisual (AV) systems, and smart infrastructure to wow visitors without requiring goggles.
Giant high-resolution LED walls, surround projections, interactive lighting, and spatial audio systems are turning ordinary galleries into dynamic, enveloping experiences.
At Tokyo’s renowned teamLab Borderless digital art museum, for example, artworks are not confined to screens or cases; they flow out into the space, change with the presence of visitors, and even interact with each other to form a “borderless world.”
The entire environment becomes a canvas, as sensors and projectors work together to respond to guests in real time.
This kind of immersion feels magical yet doesn’t rely on wearable tech, a trend spreading across the attractions industry. Even theme park experiences are proving they can be deeply immersive without any AR displays or VR headsets.
For museums, embracing such technology means visitors of all ages and comfort levels can participate fully; nobody is left out due to not wanting or being able to use a headset. Importantly, modern “bring-your-own-device” approaches also play a role in headset-free immersion. Rather than handing out proprietary gadgets, it is possible to tap into the smartphones visitors already carry.
Personal devices can serve up augmented content, trigger interactives, or guide visitors via apps, all of which enhance the experience in a familiar, user-friendly way. By investing in smart infrastructure and innovative display techniques, museums can ensure the focus stays on the art and stories, with technology invisibly enriching the ambiance.
Mad Systems’ Lory technology is the next step in that arena.
AI-powered accessibility for inclusive visits
One of the most profound impacts of AI and smart tech is how they are breaking down barriers for visitors with disabilities. Personalization in this context goes hand-in-hand with accessibility, adjusting an experience to each person’s needs inherently makes it more inclusive.
For example, a multilingual AI system can instantly translate exhibit information or narration, allowing international visitors or those who prefer a certain language to follow along seamlessly. The latest AI-driven platforms can support dozens of languages on the fly, ensuring no visitor feels left out due to language barriers.
AI is also supercharging assistive technologies. Mad Systems recently unveiled Lory; an AI-based personal media delivery system designed with accessibility in mind. Lory uses a visitor’s smartphone and interfaces with audio devices ranging from hearing aids to AirPods to stream exhibit audio directly, doing away with the old-fashioned headset loops.
The system can tailor content to individual needs and interests, and even provides features like on-screen sign language interpretation and support for braille devices to accommodate deaf and blind visitors.
This means a guest with a hearing impairment can receive crystal-clear audio using their hearing device, a deaf visitor can view a sign language avatar describing an artifact, and someone who prefers a language that is not available as part of the main show can enjoy the experience in their language, all synchronized with the exhibit.
AI and Mad’s patented Lory technology are powering captioning, descriptive audio for the visually impaired, and other adaptive tools that make exhibits accessible to everyone. By investing in these solutions, museums affirm that every visitor, regardless of ability, can engage meaningfully with the content.
In the words of one attractions tech expert, the goal is to leverage technology “to enhance productivity and accessibility, ensuring that storytelling remains interactive and dynamic” for all audiences.
Embracing AI to engage the tech-savvy audience
From personalized storytelling to smoother operations and inclusive design, AI is touching virtually every aspect of the museum experience.
Today’s visitors are more connected than ever and have come to expect digital personalization in their daily lives, and now they’re seeing it in museums and cultural attractions. To meet these high expectations, forward thinking institutions are blending art and science, using cutting-edge tools to keep experiences fresh, relevant, and visitor-centered.
Crucially, this is not about replacing the human element of museum visits, but augmenting it. Freed up from routine tasks by AI, staff and curators can focus more on authentic engagement, like giving tours or answering complex questions, while the “smart” systems safely handle the rest.
The industry’s embrace of AI has been accelerated by innovators who demonstrate what’s possible. Companies like Mad Systems have positioned themselves as thought leaders in AI-powered museum technology, showing how AI can be safely and seamlessly woven into exhibits and infrastructure.
Their QuickSilver platform, for example, takes a nonproprietary approach to hardware so that almost any new tech, from personalized AI avatars to interactive sensors, can be integrated smoothly to deliver dynamic content experiences.
As museums and visitor centers continue to experiment with these AI-driven solutions, one thing is clear: the future of the visitor experience is personalized, accessible, and smart.
By harnessing AI not as a gimmick but as a powerful tool, museums are evolving into richer, more responsive spaces that delight visitors of all backgrounds, no headsets required.
