Amit Sood: From saving artworks to giving them a playful twist, AI is a powerful tool

What started in 2011 as a ‘hobby’ project has now become a platform that gives people access to the most prized artworks across the world. Amit Sood, the man who brought Picassos and

MF Husains to our devices, talks to Sneha Bhura about how Google Arts & Culture (GAC) has evolved — it now partners with over 3,000 institutions across 80 countries — and the role of tech in saving heritage

From culinary traditions to matchbox art, Google Arts & Culture now spans a wide canvas. How has the project expanded the definition of art?

In 2011, we launched the Google Art Project with a traditional view — mostly oil-on-canvas paintings and classical visual art. Changing the name to ‘Google Arts & Culture’ was a strategic shift to broaden our lens. While still deeply committed to classical art forms — paintings, sculpture, architecture — we’ve expanded to include food, sport, natural history and even travel. Last month, we launched ‘Food Mood India’, which uses AI to generate regional food pairings. We even got a chef in our California canteen to use the tool and serve some of the dishes to the staff. It was a hit. That’s when we knew there was something there.

How did you convince big museums like the Tate in London, Uffizi Gallery in Florence and the Museum of Modern Art in New York to come onboard?

One advantage for me (or a disadvantage, depending on how you see it) was that I wasn’t an ‘art guy’. So, I approached them without any baggage, simply saying, “Hey, there’s an amazing opportunity to share some of your incredible work online.” At first, of course, they were like, “What is this? Who is this? Why is Google contacting us?” But once they understood our intention was non-commercial, and that it was fundamentally about access, their view shifted. And that aligned with the core mission of any public museum — to make culture and art accessible.

But wouldn’t it drive traffic away from museums? You could look at Van Gogh’s The Starry Night from your couch in Delhi instead of buying a plane ticket to New York and queuing up outside MoMA.

One of our main concerns initially was that people would stop going to museums if we put art content online. That’s no longer a worry as, even with so much online content, museums around the world are seeing record footfalls. It really depends on what the museum offers to engage visitors. Our app regularly shows user feedback such as: “I didn’t think I enjoyed classical art, but now I do”, or “I can’t believe how beautiful this building is, I need to go see it in person”.

How open are Indian museums to digital experiments?

India’s museum space is becoming vibrant, whether it’s the Museum of Art & Photography (MAP) in Bengaluru, Salar Jung Museum in Hyderabad or the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sangrahalaya (CSMVS) in Mumbai. CSMVS, for instance, has been incredibly forward-thinking, doing creative work with technology while still giving importance to the physical museum experience. We’re investing more than ever before in digitisation technology in India as demand keeps rising. We’re also helping museums train curators on how to tell stories online. I’m particularly passionate about India’s vast repository of manuscripts. In the West, we’ve digitised and globally launched all of Leonardo da Vinci’s codices in a project called ‘Inside a Genius Mind’. We also did a project in Mali on the Timbuktu manuscripts, important texts on Islamic culture and history. In Israel, we digitised the Dead Sea Scrolls. I’m hoping that in the next year or two, we’ll be able to do much more with manuscripts from India as well.

What new immersive or AI-powered projects are you planning next?

Technology plays a crucial role in preserving cultural heritage today. We used LiDAR scanners (that does 3D mapping) for the ‘Explore Elephanta Caves’ project launched last month. We’re also exploring how AI can help restore damaged or destroyed artworks. AI is also a powerful tool for re-creation — helping us imagine what could have been. It can also demystify art and culture, especially for people who might feel it’s elitist. For example, recently, we made an AI ‘mixtape’ from the collections of The National Gallery in London. The idea was to use AI to generate music inspired by famous artworks and then let users become DJs — connecting, mixing and playing with these works in a totally new way. ‘Mice in the Museum’, another project I love, has two AI-generated mice doing a podcast in front of artworks in a funny, engaging way. Exciting new AI partnerships with Indian museums are also in the pipeline.

With all the debate around AI-generated art, where do you stand on it?

We are here to document the world’s art, not art made by AI. That’s a clear distinction. We believe AI is most powerful when it serves artists and institutions, not when it replaces them. At GAC, most of what we do involves collaborating with external artists who use Google’s base models like Gemini. We then connect the artist, the AI model, the cultural institution and the content, which ensures that the result is curatorially sound.

Which Indian painting or project on GAC has seen the most traction globally?

The ‘Crafted in India’ exhibition resonated deeply with audiences in India and abroad. The Indian Railways project was also among our most viewed globally. In 2023, we launched the largest ever online exhibition on Hindi cinema using augmented reality and street view, partnering with the National Film Archive of India, MAP and Yash Raj Films, which was also hugely popular.