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A new exhibit from the National WWII Museum in New Orleans will give its visitors the opportunity to have conversations with some of the heroes of World War II, with AI technology powering the upcoming Voices from the Front experience
Tom Anstey | Planet Attractions | 10 Oct 2023
AI technology will allow visitors to have conversations with people who lived through World War II long after their deaths Credit: StoryFile
The National WWII Museum in New Orleans, Louisiana, has announced a new interactive experience that uses AI to bring the voices of soldiers and other people who lived through the period into the modern day.
Set to open in 2024 as part of the US museum’s new Forbes Gallery of Rare and Iconic Artifacts, the Voices from the Front exhibit will allow visitors to speak with people who lived through World War II and interact with them as though they are conversing.
Produced by immersive technology and video capture company StoryFile, visitors will be able to speak to more than a dozen individuals who lived during World War II, including Iwo Jima veteran and Medal of Honor recipient Hershel Woodrow Williams, who died in 2022; aircraft factory worker Grace Brown; and bomber pilot John Luckadoo.
In the exhibit, each individual will be able to answer up to 1,000 questions about their life and wartime experience, with AI software matching verbal responses to these answers, making it feel as though the guest is having a conversation with the real individual.
“Preserving the personal accounts of those who served and sacrificed in defence of our freedom during World War II is at the foundation of our mission, and having these men and women share their stories with visitors firsthand has long been a hallmark of the Museum experience,” said Stephen Watson, president and CEO of The National WWII Museum.
“Now, Voices from the Front will take this storytelling to a new level, allowing guests to continue to have their own conversations - through the power of AI - with members of the WWII generation, even long after they have passed.”
Voice from the Front has been made possible thanks to a US$1.5m (€1.4m, £1.2m) gift from museum trustee Sandy Villere and his wife, Margie.
“There are no greater heroes than the men and women who risked their lives to overthrow the tyranny of the Axis powers,” said Stephen Smith, co-founder and CEO of StoryFile.
“Through their storyfiles, we hear blow by blow, day by day, everything they did to secure the future of the free world, a world we should never take for granted. As this great generation of heroes leaves us, it is our honour to document their stories and connect us all to a past we must never forget.”
The newly-renovated Forbes Gallery of Rare and Iconic Artifacts will also be home to a number of additional exhibits, which will allow visitors to “contemplate the power of the artefacts and stories they hold”. Alongside a US$250,000 (€236,000, £204,000) donation to the renovation, the Forbes family has also donated items related to entrepreneur and politician Malcolm S. Forbes’s service in Europe during World War II as a US Army machine gunner.
Museums and galleries
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