About the Museum

Tucked away in Burgundy, the Muséum d’Histoire Naturelle d’Autun bridges natural science and local heritage. For its exhibition “Merveilles choisies – Du musée Rolin au Panoptique,” the curatorial team wanted to deepen visitors’ connection with thirty standout works—without adding friction or staff workload. They turned to Ask Mona to create Ève, a multilingual, AI-powered conversational guide accessible on any smartphone.

Goals

• Give every visitor a personal guide they can consult at their own pace, on-site or remotely.
• Deliver instant, accurate answers in French, English and Dutch, drawn from the museum’s own scholarly research.
• Encourage exploration across the gallery by linking scattered works into a coherent narrative.
• Capture real-time visitor questions to uncover knowledge gaps and improve future mediation.

Solution: Meet Ève, the Chatbot Curator

Scan once, chat freely
A single QR code at the entrance opens a lightweight web app—no download, no sign-up.

Point-to-learn
Visitors simply frame any artwork with their camera; Ève recognises the piece and starts the dialogue.

Ask or tap
Guests can type their own question or choose from suggested prompts. Every response comes from a custom knowledge base built from 300 pages of curatorial notes—never the open Internet.

Seamless multilingual support
Ève automatically replies in the language detected on the visitor’s phone, removing barriers for international guests.

Early Impact

While formal metrics are still being collected, staff observations and visitor feedback highlight three clear benefits:

• Instant adoption: QR-code access lowered the threshold for first-time users; phones quickly came out as soon as guests entered the gallery.
• Richer conversations: Visitors often returned to Ève between artworks, using their own questions to shape a personalised, self-paced tour.
• Actionable insights: Unanswered questions are automatically flagged, giving the curatorial team a real-time map of topics to clarify or extend.

Why It Works

• Curators stay in control – Every answer is anchored in verified, institution-approved content, guaranteeing scientific accuracy.
• Frictionless access – Web-based chat eliminates the hurdles of app stores, log-ins or device rentals.
• Visitor-led storytelling – People ask what genuinely interests them, forging an emotional bond with the collection.
• Continuous improvement loop – The museum sees where curiosity outpaces available information and refines mediation in real time.

“It’s clearly an added value we wanted to offer our visitors,” says Gauthier Gimenez, Deputy for Culture and Heritage. “It allows for a personalised visit at each person’s own pace. It doesn’t undermine the guided tour, which remains a much-loved way to discover an exhibition. It’s an intelligent, interactive audio guide that complements a guided tour.”

Key Takeaways for Cultural Venues

1. Leverage what you already have: exhibition labels and internal research are goldmines—AI simply surfaces them on demand.
2. Think multilingual from day one: automatic language detection converts casual tourists into engaged participants.
3. Use data for curation, not surveillance: anonymous question logs reveal new programming ideas while respecting privacy.