AI-Enabled Citizen Participation in Safeguarding Ukrainian Cultural Heritage: Ethical and Methodological Frameworks

AI-Enabled Citizen Participation in Safeguarding Ukrainian Cultural Heritage: Ethical and Methodological Frameworks

The preservation of Ukrainian cultural heritage faces unprecedented threats due to ongoing geopolitical turmoil. Destruction, displacement, looting and loss of cultural artifacts require urgent and innovative responses to safeguard both tangible and intangible heritage. Artificial Intelligence (AI) presents new opportunities for digital preservation, documentation, and restoration, yet its application raises ethical and methodological challenges. This poster explores how AI, when combined with citizen participation, can be effectively and responsibly leveraged to protect Ukrainian cultural heritage, ensuring an ethical, sustainable, and community-driven approach to digital preservation. The AISTER project, funded under the Erasmus+ KA2 programme, employs AI technologies alongside active citizen engagement to develop participatory models of cultural heritage safeguarding. It aims to advance AI-driven methodologies, including multilingual text recognition, AI-powered image analysis, and 3D reconstruction of cultural sites. These technologies facilitate the documentation, restoration, and digital preservation of endangered heritage assets while actively involving communities in the process. The project aligns with European Union regulations[1] and UNESCO guidelines[2], ensuring AI applications uphold ethical principles related to transparency, inclusivity, and sustainability. Responsible AI use is crucial to mitigate biases, prevent the misuse of sensitive cultural data, and support heritage professionals in navigating AI-driven decision-making processes. Beyond technological innovation, AISTER underscores the importance of community engagement and public awareness. The project fosters participatory approaches where university students, cultural heritage professionals, and citizens collaborate to identify risks, document artifacts, and develop AI-enhanced heritage preservation strategies. Through co-creation workshops, hackathons, and roundtables, AISTER promotes knowledge exchange and strengthens public involvement in heritage safeguarding. These activities help demystify AI, making it more accessible and fostering public trust in AI-assisted preservation efforts. The project’s outcomes will contribute to ongoing discussions on AI ethics, human-centered AI, and citizen participation in cultural heritage preservation. In addition to expert roundtables and open-access research publications, AISTER will organise an "AI for 3D Cultural Heritage of Ukraine" hackathon, community-driven AI workshops, and a structured policy framework for ethical AI use in the heritage sector. The AISTER Manifesto will further outline best practices for integrating AI in heritage protection, emphasising ethical considerations, public engagement, and long-term sustainability. By fostering interdisciplinary collaboration between computer science, cultural heritage, and humanities and social sciences, AISTER showcases AI’s potential beyond documentation and analysis, serving as a catalyst for engagement, awareness, and collective responsibility in the preservation of cultural heritage. This poster aims to contribute to broader discussions at the DARIAH Annual Event, highlighting the intersection of AI, digital humanities, and participatory heritage preservation to ensure an ethical and sustainable approach to digital humanities research.