Chat with David: the updated version of the Academy Gallery project is online

Do you want to know what Michelangelo’s David, icon of the Italian Renaissance, thinks? How does he spend his days? Ask him curiosities about the period in which it was made? Interacting with thealter ego of the world’s most famous statue is even easier! Last December, the Accademia Gallery in Florence launched the artificial intelligence project Chats with David. Now thanks to the amount of interaction with users, it’s the project has reached its final version.

The system, an automated software based on deep learning technology, continuously keeps the learning process active, allowing the chatbot to be increasingly capable of responding articulately. The project is the brainchild of Cecilie Hollberg, director of the Accademia Gallery in Florence, and was implemented using tools developed by Querlo, a New York-based company that specializes in producing technological applications using artificial intelligence.

Over the course of these months, the chatbot has been enriched with content thanks to all the questions posed to it, which produced more than 16,500 interactions in Italian and 9,500 in English. More than seventy answers could be added, increasing the combinations for formulating the same question by about a thousand times. An ongoing, ever-evolving learning process.

“A great success,” comments Cecilie Hollberg. “Everyone wants to talk to our ’beautiful hero.’ They range from food curiosities to inquiries about art historical interest and conservation. Some people asked him if he was lonely and wanted to go out, so much so that they even asked him for his phone number. A playful and different way to engage an increasingly diverse and international audience.”

The initiative is in line with the wishes of the Ministry of Culture, which strongly supports the commitment to the use of digital as a lever for the promotion of Italy’s cultural heritage, and was also made possible thanks to the support of the Association of Friends of the Accademia Gallery of Florence.

Chat with David: the updated version of the Academy Gallery project is online

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