Cultural Heritage Protection and Artificial Intelligence; The Future of Our Historical Past

This paper aims to present the existing regulatory framework, both at the level of the European Union and at the level of Greece, regarding the protection of cultural goods and the wider cultural heritage. The paper is a comprehensive overview of the conventions, agreements and legal texts adopted, at the international and regional level, for the protection of cultural heritage. In particular, the paper begins with the presentation of the main terminology aiming to give the concept of cultural heritage as it has been shaped over time and the elements that define it. Therefore, in the first part, the paper presents the main definitions as set through the UNESCO Convention for the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage of 1972. Then, the paper, in the second part, analyzes the existing regulatory protection framework as it applies in the European Union. First, the basic pieces of European legislation aiming at protecting cultural heritage, at all levels and by any means, are presented. Then, the corresponding framework established at the national level, in Greece, is analyzed in a similar way. In the third part, the connection with Artificial Intelligence (Artificial Intelligence and henceforth AI) is attempted. The connection focuses on two main areas: the first concerns the possibilities that Artificial Intelligence provides in the protection of Cultural Heritage and the second the possibilities offered through AI in improving the accessibility of the individual to cultural goods. Finally, the approach of developing that regulatory framework that will delimit the possibilities of AI within the framework of Ethics and the reliability of Artificial Intelligence methods is attempted.