Meet Frederick Douglass, the hologram, at this Boston museum

Why it matters: The Douglass exhibit, launching this weekend for Black History Month, is the latest example of museums using AI to modernize their materials and make them more accessible.

Driving the news: The Museum of African American History partnered with virtual reality company TimeLooper, which fed a closed AI system text from Douglass' autobiographies to make the hologram responsive.

• The hologram will be on display at the museum's Beacon Hill site, which is open six days a week.

What they're saying: "We will never be able to fully recreate Frederick Douglass. He's long gone, " says Noelle Trent, the museum's president and CEO.

• "This is just another way to bring his legacy forward. …This is really a great opportunity for people who are more experiential learners."

Zoom in: Douglass was a solid candidate for this experiment because of the breadth of his writings and photographs of him, said Trent, who wrote her dissertation on the abolitionist.

• The museum and TimeLooper plan to feed the hologram more primary sources from Douglass, but they have to consider which texts reflect how his viewpoints evolved on various issues over his lifetime.
• The hologram only relies on primary sources, Trent said.

The big picture: Museums across the country are using AI to project holograms of Holocaust survivors and recreate the oral histories of enslaved people.

• The upcoming Holocaust Museum Boston plans to feature a holographic display of Holocaust survivor David Schaecter.

Trent has explored AI use in other museums. She also collaborated with TimeLooper when she worked at the National Civil Rights Museum in Memphis, Tennessee.

What's next: The museum is exploring other applications for AI.

• Trent did not elaborate on what those might be but said AI could be part of the "Black Voices of the Revolution" exhibit when it opens in June.