Scholar explores AI's role in preserving Armenian heritage
Mouradian discusses heritage, under-resourced languages and AI at Haigazian
Dr. Khachig Mouradian, a lecturer at Columbia University and Johns Hopkins University and Armenian specialist at the Library of Congress, discussed how artificial intelligence is transforming cultural heritage preservation at Haigazian University in Beirut on August 5.
Mouradian examined four key operations: preserving existing materials, recovering inaccessible content, enabling new uses of heritage materials, and generating new cultural expressions. He presented case studies ranging from deciphering ancient scrolls to digitizing endangered languages and using satellite imagery to document threatened Armenian cultural sites in the South Caucasus.
The lecture highlighted AI's potential for under-resourced languages and dispersed archives, including tools that recognize Armenian scripts and connect multilingual collections. However, Mouradian cautioned that AI systems can reproduce historical biases and present generated material with misleading authority. He emphasized that decisions about cultural authority, consent, and responsibility must remain fundamentally human.
