Curating AI-driven Art: actors, institutional strategies and organisational change

Artificial intelligence has recently captured the attention of museums and galleries, being increasingly integrated across their activities, including curating. As many artists adopt AI, particularly machine learning, as both a creative tool and subject matter, institutions have had to adapt their curatorial practices to support machine learning projects and present AI-based work to their audiences. But how is AI art reshaping the art ecosystem? Which organisations are leading their curation? And to what extent is it driving organisational change? This article explores these questions through findings from the Curatorial Strand of the AHRC-funded project Creative AI: Machine Learning as a Medium in Artistic and Curatorial Practice (2020–2022), focusing on the Euro-American context. Drawing on 'think aloud' workshops and semi-structured interviews with curators working with AI art/ists, we examine how they navigate the challenges and opportunities posed by this emerging field. We show that the AI art ‘movement’ is transforming the art ecosystem, placing new demands on curatorial processes and prompting museums and galleries to embrace organisational change. These institutions are increasingly working in experimental, transdisciplinary and collaborative ways — reshaping not only how art is curated, but how cultural organisations operate.