Reverberations: A Future for Memory at the Sydney Jewish Museum.

AI to help facilitate difficult conversations at Jewish Museum

A new exhibition offers a glimpse into the future of conserving authentic Holocaust survivor stories with the help of AI.

Sydney Jewish Museum recently launched Reverberations: A Future of Memory, its first AI (Artificial Intelligence)-powered exhibition sharing Holocaust survivor stories.

Authentic testimonials and survivor stories have played an integral role in educating the public on the Holocaust, while also sharing tales of courage, endurance and resilience. Rather than recounting the events of the Holocaust, this new exhibition centres human experiences with the help of technology.

Visitors are able to have conversations with the interactive biographies of Holocaust survivors, including the late Eddie Jaku OAM, Czechoslovakian-born Australian author Olga Horak and Yvonne Engelman.

Working alongside the Sydney Jewish Museum to bring to life these survivor stories through AI is University of Southern California Shoah Foundation Deputy Executive Director, Dr Kori Street, who explains that the project will allow visitors to delve into difficult questions that they may have been reluctant to ask Holocaust survivors face to face.

Street tells ArtsHub: ‘One of the things that our research showed was when students come to have a conversation with the interactive survivor biographies, they’re able to ask tougher questions earlier on in their learning, as compared to speaking with a survivor in real life where they are more afraid of hurting their feelings.

Read the article by Celina Lei on Arts Hub.