AI as a Tool for Audio Guides, Sound Design, and Personalised Storytelling - Video / Webinar

Meet Podego, shortlisted for Innovator of the Year at the Museums + Heritage Awards 2025. Podego develops intelligent audio solutions for museums and heritage sites, creating audio guides that adapt dynamically to different target audiences.

How can artificial intelligence help museums and cultural institutions create stronger communication and interpretation - without requiring major investments or technical expertise? In this session, we explore how AI can genuinely function as a creative tool and a shortcut to more personal, engaging, and accessible digital communication that reaches broad audiences and can be implemented quickly.

We take our starting point in the award-nominated company Podego, which was shortlisted for Innovator of the Year at the Museums + Heritage Awards 2025. Podego develops intelligent audio solutions for museums and heritage sites - creating audio guides that dynamically adapt to different audiences. In the webinar, Podego CEO Danna Mulya shares experiences of using AI as both a creative and strategic tool.

They demonstrate how AI can strengthen communication and storytelling, improve the visitor experience, and make exhibitions more accessible - while also saving time and resources in production. In a previous BARC [hacks] session, we explored AI as a “lever.” This time, we dive into how AI can be used as a creative tool in digital storytelling - especially within audio narratives.

Read more about Podego’s work here: www.podego.com/museum

Key Findings from the Webinar on AI in Audio Guides (Podego)

• AI Can Significantly Accelerate Audio Guide Production

  For museums with limited resources, AI can substantially reduce both time consumption and costs, without the need for advanced technical expertise or major investments.

• Multilingual and Audience-Tailored Audio Guides Make the Museum Experience More Inclusive

  With AI, it becomes possible to quickly produce audio guides in multiple languages and for different target groups, opening the museum to new and broader audiences.

• Personalisation Improves Visitor Experience and Engagement

  When audio content is adapted to different visitor types (e.g. children, young explorers, adults, professionally interested audiences), communication feels more relevant, engaging, and immersive.

• Human Quality Control Is Essential

  Although AI can generate content, quality, tone, authenticity, and adaptation of dialect, text, and voice still require human editorial oversight.

• Documented Impact on Engagement

  At SAKA Museum, the use of AI-based audio guides led to a 30% increase in engagement, compared with an industry average of around 5%.

Download the presentation here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bFAMP3TpyvM