Internet Archive Europe is proud to support the release of AI Lab Perspectives: Humans of AI, the seventh report by information labs, based on a series of expert video capsules.
This timely and thoughtful publication brings together voices from across Europe’s cultural heritage ecosystem to explore a question that could not be more important: what does it mean to build AI that truly serves the public?
As the report’s introduction makes clear, Humans of AI aims to spark informed conversation and critical reflection on how artificial intelligence is being applied within the cultural heritage sector across Europe and beyond. Through in-depth podcast conversations with libraries, museums, archives, artists, researchers, and digital platforms, the series highlights real-world projects, ethical challenges, and practical lessons that demonstrate how AI can support access, memory, and public engagement.
At Internet Archive Europe, this mission resonates deeply.
AI as Public-Interest Infrastructure
Across all ten case studies, one shared insight stands out: AI is neither a miracle nor a threat; it is a tool. Its impact depends on how it is governed, who shapes it, and whether it strengthens public knowledge and democratic access.
The projects featured in the report illustrate this principle in powerful ways:
- Preserving History: From Transkribus turning historical manuscripts into searchable text to the National Library of Norway building language models grounded in local culture.
- Innovating Access: Projects like Litte_bot bring literary characters to life, while the Museum Goggles initiative uses AI to help us understand how visitors truly experience art.
- Memory & Ethics: The Synthetic Memories project uses AI to reconstruct lost personal histories, and Europeana uses it to identify and contextualise contested colonial terms in metadata.
- The Web of the Past: We are especially thrilled to see Kai Jauslin’s work on the Websites van Nederland project, part of the Webarchiving Display of the Internet Archive Europe. This initiative transforms massive web archives into interactive “fields of stars,” making born-digital heritage tangible and explorable for the public.
For us, the themes of openness, shared ownership, multilingual access, ethical governance, and human oversight are not abstract ideals. They are foundational principles. We believe that digital heritage, including the web itself, belongs to everyone. AI, when responsibly developed, can help ensure that these collections remain explorable, meaningful, and usable for generations to come.
Bringing Collections to Life — Responsibly
One of the most inspiring aspects of Humans of AI is its refusal to fall into hype or fear. The report consistently underscores that the real challenges around AI are social and institutional—adoption, governance, trust, and long-term sustainability—rather than purely technical.
From reconstructing lost memories through guided conversations to using AI-powered eye-tracking to better understand museum engagement to enriching metadata across millions of records, the report shows that AI’s greatest value lies in supporting human interpretation, not replacing it.
This aligns closely with Internet Archive Europe’s commitment to:
- Preserving digital memory at scale
- Supporting open data and open-source innovation
- Making archives explorable, not hidden
- Ensuring that public knowledge is not mediated exclusively through private platforms
AI can help bring collections to life, but only if it remains grounded in public interest, transparency, and shared stewardship.
Looking Ahead: The Second Series of Case Studies
We are especially proud to see the breadth and diversity of contributors in this first edition, from national libraries and global open-source communities to artists and experimental designers. The range of voices reflects the richness of Europe’s cultural and digital heritage ecosystem.
Internet Archive Europe looks forward with great anticipation to the second series of Humans of AI case studies. Continued documentation of practical, ethical, and public-interest applications of AI will be essential in shaping a European approach that is confident, values-driven, and collaborative.
By amplifying real-world examples rather than abstract speculation, this series provides policymakers, cultural institutions, and technologists with something invaluable: grounded insight.
