Cultural Heritage Meets AI: Transforming Museum Experience with Virtual Agents

Immersive Virtual Reality (IVR) has become increasingly important in cultural heritage applications. Recent advances, such as the integration of virtual agents and Artificial Intelligence (AI), have further reshaped the IVR landscape, paving the way for new applications with potential impact. Despite extensive research on their application, the user experience and usability of cultural content for end users remain largely overlooked. This study aims to conduct a preliminary analysis of an AI-powered virtual agent’s impact on users in the context of cultural heritage. Participants could interact freely with the virtual agent, simulating a conversation about questions and curiosities as they would with an expert museum guide. A user study has been conducted, comparing two methods of information delivery in an IVR museum environment: a traditional explanatory panel and an AI virtual agent. Metrics collected were the time spent during each condition, the systems’ overall user experience, and usability. The results suggest that virtual agents capture the user’s attention more and encourage prolonged interaction due to novelty. However, the study also highlights the need to combine both methods to achieve optimal user engagement and usability.