Design of an Ethical Framework for Artificial Intelligence in Cultural Heritage

In recent years Artificial Intelligence (AI) has found its way into the creative and cultural industries, opening up new challenges and opportunities, poorly sufficiently explored today. However, when it comes to culture and creativity, many social and political cost factors should be taken into account. It is crucial to identify the opportunities that AI can offer in terms of the preservation, use, promotion, and accessibility of Cultural Heritage (CH). However, ethical concerns should be outlined when applying AI in cultural settings, such as for the digital replica of official UNESCO heritage sites or an unbiased explanation and interpretation of a work of art. This paper provides a first attempt to define the main ethical findings on this topic and propose it as an ethical framework to assess different risks arising from the use of AI in the CH domain. The application of this disruptive technology in the arts is evaluated through the lens of ethical principles for trustworthy AI and it explores whether the wider accessibility and improved preservation techniques enabled by AI come at some cost in terms of interpretation, social and cultural inclusion, subjectivism, or other forms of bias. The main ethical principles that emerge from the literature for the application of AI in the cultural domain are the following: Shared Responsibility, Meaningful Participation, Explainability, Accessibility, Sustainability, Reliability and Dignity. The findings underline the importance of establishing specific sectoral ethical guidelines for AI in the field of tangible and intangible CH to support and enhance its sustainable development without compromising its values, significance, sense of belonging and strong social impact.