To mark 15 years of collaboration, The Metropolitan Museum of Art (The Met) and Google Arts & Culture have unveiled two new generative AI initiatives. These projects are designed to deepen how audiences discover art online and experience the museum's vast collection in person.
Art Aura: Uncovering Hidden Connections
The new interactive experience, "Art Aura," developed by the Google Arts & Culture Lab in collaboration with The Met, is powered by Google Gemini. This multimodal tool allows users to drag artworks, styles, or descriptive phrases into a digital zone to uncover hidden thematic connections across centuries of art. The process culminates in the creation of a personalized digital portrait based on the user's unique artistic taste.
Innovation Within the Gallery Walls
In tandem with this launch, the museum recently completed its "Technologist in Residence" program. For six months, creative technologist Julia Daser investigated how generative AI could enrich the museum visit. Utilizing Google Gemini and Vertex AI, Daser worked alongside museum curators to rapidly build and live-test prototypes directly within the exhibition spaces, bridging the gap between advanced technology and traditional curation.
Digital Access to 200,000 Objects
This milestone continues a legacy of digital innovation that began with virtual visits in 2011 and the 2018 Open Access initiative. Audiences can now explore over 200,000 digitized objects and 50 curated stories through a new dedicated landing page on Google Arts & Culture, ensuring that access to art remains unrestricted by distance.
