The Cleveland Museum of Art has spent more than a decade integrating artificial intelligence tools into its operations, establishing itself among U.S. museums as a systematic adopter of the technology. The institution’s approach, overseen by Chief Digital Information Officer Jane Alexander, prioritizes reducing barriers between visitors and the collection rather than using technology as a novelty.

Among the museum’s most visible programs is Gallery One, which opened in 2012 and incorporates computer vision and interactive recommendation features to help visitors explore the collection. CMA has also built a unified data infrastructure that allows a small technical team to manage AI-powered tools across the organization. An ongoing project involves generating AI-written visual descriptions for works across the entire collection to improve accessibility for visitors with vision impairments.

Alexander has framed the effort as a mission-driven undertaking, describing CMA’s goal as meeting visitors where they are and noting that the collection “belongs to everyone.” The museum has published its collection data openly, a move that has enabled external researchers to develop additional applications using CMA holdings. Officials said further expansion of AI-powered accessibility features is planned.

Source: Cleveland Today