Generative AI and Cultural Heritage: Opportunities, Challenges, and Ethical Frontiers

Dear Colleagues,

The relationship between technology and cultural heritage is undergoing a profound and accelerated evolution. For decades, digital tools have been applied to tasks of preservation, analysis, and classification. However, the recent and rapid proliferation of advanced technologies, most notably generative artificial intelligence (AI) such as Large Language Models (LLMs) and diffusion models, represents a fundamental paradigm shift. This is not merely about processing heritage data but is also about creating new forms of digital media, enabling novel designs, and shaping new modes of human–computer interaction (HCI). This development is fundamentally altering how digital heritage is perceived, interpreted, and experienced by professionals and global audiences alike.

This Special Issue seeks to foster a multidisciplinary dialogue to explore these revolutionary changes. We invite researchers and practitioners from fields including, but not limited to, human–computer interaction (HCI), digital design, digital media, heritage studies, archaeology, computer science, and education. We aim to bring together pioneering work that critically examines the transformative potential and inherent risks of applying new digital technologies to our shared cultural heritage, helping to shape a responsible, impactful, and human-centred future.

Contributions may cover, but are not limited to, the following topics:

• Design, development, and evaluation of novel digital applications (including, but not limited to, generative AI) for cultural heritage;
• The role of digital media and transmedia storytelling in interpreting and co-creating cultural narratives.;
• Human–computer interaction (HCI) research focused on how users perceive, collaborate with, and experience digital heritage systems;
• Ethical frameworks for the use of advanced digital technologies, addressing issues of authenticity, data sovereignty, and algorithmic bias in the heritage context;
• Technological advancements and novel methodologies for the creation, visualisation, or analysis of heritage data.
• Critical evaluation of the impact of digital technologies on cultural heritage learning, audience engagement, and human perception. 

Dr. Min Fan
Dr. Aynur Kadir
Dr. Özge Nilay Yalçın
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Heritage is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• cultural heritage preservation
• archaeology and AI
• museum studies
• authenticity and ethics in heritage
• digital heritage application design
• generative AI
• digital media
• user experience