Coloniality, Collections and the Responsible Use of AI

Designed with decolonial values in mind, the aim of this toolkit and workbook is to help museums and heritage organisations, those who work within them, and their broader communities, define on an ongoing basis what a responsible use of AI should look like for their specific setting, ambitions, and projects. In particular, this resource aims to consider AI use as it relates to processes of museum decolonisation that address museum collections which were acquired as part of colonial expansion and rule. AI is enmeshed with and maintains historic and ongoing colonial power relations, biases, and harms. Given the momentum around AI integration, museums and heritage institutions face a complicated and potentially fraught process of navigation in which they attempt to reconcile AI use with their educative, social, and cultural mission and ethic, including their processes of decolonisation.University of Sheffield ethics approval was obtained for the research underlying this resource:Application 058563 Application 061004