Humans of AI by information labs

information labs
  • 0.0 (0)
  • TECHNOLOGY

In Humans of AI, information labs brings to life the intersection of artificial intelligence and cultural heritage. Across a series of punchy, story-driven video capsules, we meet the projects and people who are redefining how we read, remember, and reimagine our shared memory. This isn’t AI as hype — it’s AI as heritage in motion.

Episodes

  1. Humans of AI | Daniel van Strien (Hugging Face) - The Open Model Revolution

    4D AGO · BONUS

    Humans of AI | Daniel van Strien (Hugging Face) - The Open Model Revolution

    🔍 In this episode of Humans of AI, we speak with Daniel van Strien, researcher at Hugging Face and coordinator of Big GLAM, about how open collaboration, shared datasets, and a focus on the public good can help the cultural heritage sector build a healthier AI ecosystem. Daniel shares his journey from studying library science to exploring how machine learning can empower libraries, archives, and museums. He discusses the Living with Machines project, his early experiments with FastAI, and how the Big GLAM initiative grew into a global effort to make cultural heritage datasets accessible for ethical and transparent AI development. 📌 HoAI Highlights ⏲️[00:00] Intro ⏲️[00:24] The Spark ⏲️[03:23] The Impact ⏲️[10:05] The Challenge ⏲️[13:45] The Future ⏲️[20:32] The Takeaway The Spark 🗣️“Even something as simple as an image classifier can be incredibly useful for libraries — the challenge is adapting these tools to real-world GLAM contexts.” The Impact 🗣️ “People often focus on models, but data is what really lasts. If we want AI to work for cultural heritage, we need to see datasets as shared infrastructure.” The Challenge 🗣️ “Funding and copyright uncertainty are holding institutions back — we can’t expect the GLAM sector to lead innovation without long-term investment and legal clarity.” The Future 🗣️“There’s an opportunity for libraries to collaborate on evaluation datasets and task-specific models that reflect their own values and missions.” The Takeaway 🗣️ “Models might fade, but well-built datasets can last a decade — that’s where sustainable progress begins.” 📌 About Our Guests Daniel van Strien | Hugging Face & Big GLAM 🌐 linkedin.com/in/danielvanstrien  🌐 https://huggingface.co/biglam  Big GLAM is a global open science initiative hosted on Hugging Face that gathers datasets from galleries, libraries, archives, and museums to support ethical, community-driven machine learning. By fostering collaboration and transparency, Big GLAM helps cultural institutions engage with AI in ways that respect public values and strengthen the digital commons. #AI #ArtificialIntelligence #GenerativeAI

    22 min
  2. Humans of AI | Melissa Terras (Transkribus) - From Dust to Data

    NOV 4 · BONUS

    Humans of AI | Melissa Terras (Transkribus) - From Dust to Data

    🔍 In this episode of Humans of AI, Professor Melissa Terras, co-founder of Transkribus, shares how three decades of work in digital cultural heritage led to one of Europe’s most successful examples of ethical, community-owned AI. Melissa talks about turning damaged ancient manuscripts into searchable digital archives, the journey from academic research to a cooperative business model, and why AI should serve communities — not corporations. She reflects on lessons from the project’s growth, the importance of human networks, and her vision for a future where AI is sustainable, transparent, and keeps humans in the loop. 📌 HoAI Highlights ⏲️[00:00] Intro ⏲️[00:21] The Spark ⏲️[08:25] The Impact ⏲️[13:54] The Challenge ⏲️[18:19] The Future ⏲️[24:11] The Takeaway The Spark 🗣️“We’re building tools that let people turn images of the past into knowledge for the future.” The Impact 🗣️ “To have learned about this poet at school and now help make her diaries accessible to everyone — that was a really nice full-circle moment for me.” The Challenge 🗣️ “All of this is about information literacy — and AI companies don’t want people to be literate about AI. They want to disrupt, take the money, and run.” The Future 🗣️“If we want a better AI world, we need to look at the business models — and encourage more people to build AI cooperatively.” The Takeaway 🗣️ “AI is just a tool. What we choose to do with it is on us.” 📌 About Our Guests Melissa Terras | Transkribus 🌐 linkedin.com/in/melissa-terras-mbe-freng-8658714  🌐 https://www.transkribus.org  Transkribus is a cooperative AI platform that uses handwriting recognition and machine learning to turn historical documents into searchable, machine-readable text. Co-owned by libraries, archives, museums, and individuals, it helps researchers and institutions digitize and analyze millions of handwritten records while ensuring data ethics and community-driven sustainability. #AI #ArtificialIntelligence #GenerativeAI

    26 min
  • 2 Episodes

About

In Humans of AI, information labs brings to life the intersection of artificial intelligence and cultural heritage. Across a series of punchy, story-driven video capsules, we meet the projects and people who are redefining how we read, remember, and reimagine our shared memory. This isn’t AI as hype — it’s AI as heritage in motion.

Information