The Minister of Culture, Lina Mendoni, today presented the actions and initiatives of the Ministry of Culture for the integration and utilization of Artificial Intelligence in Culture, in the presence of the researchers and scientists collaborating on the program. The use of artificial intelligence by the Ministry falls within the broader framework of the national strategy for Artificial Intelligence, constituting a central government priority, so that Greece can be at the forefront of international developments in this field.
“The Ministry of Culture,” the Minister stated in her introductory remarks, “has acted in a coordinated manner in order to respond to new challenges and demands, developing specific actions for the smooth integration and effective utilization of Artificial Intelligence in the cultural sector, within the framework of the continuous updating and evolution of its digital policy. Drawing on the findings and proposals of the Advisory Committee, it proceeded with the design and launch of a coherent strategy, which is implemented through a network of targeted actions covering both cultural heritage and contemporary culture.”
Cultural heritage and contemporary artistic production/creative industry consist of different objects, legal and ethical frameworks, management needs and innovation dynamics, and therefore the Ministry of Culture’s strategy is based on distinct and specialized studies for each individual sector, for the effective and responsible use of AI. The two main studies, “National Strategy for the Integration of Artificial Intelligence in the Management, Preservation and Promotion of Cultural Heritage” and “Strategic Study for the Protection of Copyright and Related Rights in the Development of AI across all forms of art,” were prepared by a technical advisor (the consulting firm Ernst & Young) and by the Hellenic Copyright Organization, respectively.
“The first study,” the Minister clarified, “is structured around eight central pillars covering the entire spectrum of cultural activity: the unification and semantic analysis of cultural data for research, conservation and protection of monuments from climate change through the creation of digital twins, as well as strengthening international outreach and cultural diplomacy for the repatriation of cultural assets. Particular emphasis is placed on immersive and inclusive experiences for the public through virtual and augmented reality (VR/AR) technologies, while the systematic enhancement of the digital skills of the Ministry’s human resources and supervised entities is also foreseen. The second study, in the field of contemporary culture and the creative industry, places particular emphasis on the protection of creators, copyright and related rights under national and European law, in the new AI environment, on safeguarding creativity and original content, as well as on labor, economic and social impacts. The timely establishment of an appropriate regulatory framework to balance innovation and intellectual property protection is considered a factor of critical importance. The ongoing administrative restructuring of the Hellenic Copyright Organization and the modernization of its institutional framework will significantly contribute in this direction.”
Lina Mendoni also referred in detail “to the active participation and contribution of the Ministry of Culture in the development of AI services for language and culture, with the recent signing of a memorandum with the newly established company ‘Greek AI Factory S.A.’ (Pharos AI Factory). The Ministry will decisively contribute to the creation of Greek Data Spaces for language and cultural heritage, to the creation and training of the Greek Large Language Model (LLM) based on reliable and documented scientific data, and to the development of a toolkit with datasets, services and AI models for use by public bodies, research institutions, cultural organizations and SMEs in the sector.”
“At the same time,” the Minister noted, “the Ministry of Culture signed a Programmatic Agreement with the National Technical University of Athens for the implementation of a research program aimed at transforming and utilizing the existing digital and digitized cultural repository of the Ministry into an organized, dynamic and scalable knowledge infrastructure, capable of supporting the daily operational functioning of services, evidence-based decision-making and the strategic planning of the long-term management of monuments and archaeological sites. Within this framework, the design and implementation of Knowledge Graphs is envisaged, along with the training of specialized language models (LLMs) and the development of pilot conversational interaction applications (chatbots) to support human decision-making, with application in the documentation and management of Greek UNESCO World Heritage monuments, as well as Christian and Ottoman monuments across the Greek territory.”
For the coordination, prioritization and monitoring of the actions, a cross-sectoral and interdisciplinary Special Artificial Intelligence Committee has been established within the Ministry of Culture, with an advisory, guiding and strategic role in the design, evaluation and implementation of relevant policies.
Ioannis Mastrogeorgiou, Secretary General for Long-Term Planning at the Presidency of the Greek Government, member of the Board of Directors of “PHAROS AI FACTORY” and of the Ministry’s Special AI Committee, stressed that “artificial intelligence is perhaps the most important technological platform, which not only practically affects culture through its promotion and protection, but also brings about a profound transformation in the relationship between humans and machines, redefining creation, collaboration and the co-production of ideas. Given that culture is a living organism requiring continuous care and adaptation, redefining the position and role of humans in this new, still uncharted environment created by AI in relation to culture constitutes a critical challenge and at the same time an important national responsibility, requiring an open, dynamic and modernizing strategy.”
Dr. Kostis Chlouberakis, Partner at Ernst & Young Greece, presented the core framework of the study developed for the use of AI in cultural heritage. “The strategy for integrating AI into culture must be based on the fundamental principles of ethical responsibility, transparency, data authenticity and sustainability, and aligned with the European framework (AI Act). Its key objectives are the unification of fragmented cultural assets into a dynamic ‘living knowledge ecosystem’, the strengthening of heritage protection and management through advanced documentation tools, as well as the improvement of accessibility and immersive experiences for the public. The ultimate goal is the creation of an integrated AI platform for Cultural Heritage, which will function as a digital hub connecting all cultural information.”
Maria-Daphni Papadopoulou, Deputy Director of the Hellenic Copyright Organization, elaborated on the strategy for the protection of intellectual property rights, focusing on the complex challenges that artificial intelligence creates for intellectual property. She highlighted the paradox of AI’s strong dependence on human creativity, which it simultaneously undermines through unauthorized use of works and the production of competing content. She emphasized the already visible economic impacts on creators and the importance of their financial sustainability for the continuation of cultural production, while also pointing out the risk of qualitative degradation of the systems themselves when they rely on synthetic data. At the same time, she highlighted creative inequality to the detriment of smaller languages, such as Greek, underlining that intellectual property is an issue of cultural policy and not merely technical regulation.
Professor Georgios Stamou of the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the National Technical University of Athens highlighted the three main axes of AI development: large pre-trained models that require massive volumes of data and infrastructure, smaller high-precision models that utilize closed or specialized data (such as those of the Ministry of Culture), and hybrid systems that combine language models with external databases, allowing greater control and protection of intellectual property. He stressed the problem of data bias, not only linguistic but mainly cultural, emphasizing the need for the production of authentic Greek content that reflects both history and contemporary life. Highlighting the potential of AI technologies in culture (3D visualizations, support for archaeological research), he concluded with three critical horizontal priorities: the protection of intellectual property, education for understanding the technology, and leveraging the European context to strengthen Greece’s role in the field of artificial intelligence and culture.
The Ministry of Culture, through its collaboration with the academic and research community, the creation of modern digital infrastructures and institutional strengthening, is shaping the conditions for a dynamic and sustainable transition of Greek culture into the new digital era.
