Reverberations: An AI-powered exhibition

Thanks to cutting-edge AI and natural language processing technologies, you can have a conversation with a digital Holocaust survivor at the Museum. 

Reverberations is an interactive exhibition that gives a glimpse into the technologies being used to preserve the opportunity to interact with Holocaust survivors, in  preparation for when the time comes that there are sadly no more survivors to tell their own stories.

HAVE A CONVERSATION WITH A DIGITAL SURVIVOR 

In the exhibition, you have the chance to ask questions to 3 digital survivors: Eddie Jaku, Olga Horak and Yvonne Engelman. Through the use of AI, they will respond to your questions in real time. It will feel like you’re standing there and talking to a real person. 

You can ask our interactive Holocaust survivor biographies anything you like. This can be related to their experiences during the Holocaust, but they can also be about their lives before or after the war, their likes, dislikes, opinions and perspectives about life. You can even ask them about their favourite colour, or what they think of vegemite! 

When it comes to learning about history, nothing quite compares to having an intimate conversation with the people who were there to experience it. This is why meeting Holocaust survivors and hearing their stories has always been one of the most meaningful experiences we offer at the Museum. Sadly, we have to prepare for a time when we no longer have survivors left with us. Interactive technologies, like these digital survivors, are critical to this plan, as they offer a way for future visitors to have authentic and meaningful interactions with important eyewitnesses to history. 

HOW DOES THE TECHNOLOGY WORK? 

Over an intensive five days in 2020-21, Olga, Yvonne and Eddie were asked close to 1,000 questions about their experiences before, during and after the Holocaust, as well as facts about their lives, interests and hopes for the future, all while being filmed within a specialised rig with 23 cameras in front of a green screen.  

Our digital survivors work by transforming your questions into search terms – in a way that feels similar to digital assistant tools like Siri or Alexa. The system then matches your question back to the most appropriate part of the interviews with the real Holocaust survivor, and plays back the associated video clip, resulting in a conversational-like experience.  

If the real survivor did not answer your question in their interviews, the technology will not be able to provide an answer.  

The system logs every question and answer, which is why the technology is able to become ‘smarter’ and more effective as more and more questions are asked. 

Reverberations is now open. Book your ticket now to experience the future of memory. 

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