Running with Scissors: AI Dos and Don’ts

ID: WMA2026_564

Track:

Artificial Intelligence is a creative tool that, like scissors, must be handled with care to avoid the pointy bits. Learning from a legal expert, a reluctant adopter, and a professional actively using it, this session will demystify AI with a brief intro to its history, legal challenges, and as a tool that can support human creativity. Find out how a monkey, alien, and ghost influenced AI’s legal use, and explore museum scenarios in small group discussions.

Session Information

Format: Regular session/panel (roundtable, single speaker, etc.)

Uniqueness: We will employ a Story Time approach, which lends itself to the crazy history and case studies that shaped the legalities of AI use today.

Objectives:

• Demystify AI with brief introductions to its history, how it works, enough to understand problems/issues with using it. 
• Knowledge of legal and ethical strategies and tools for partnering with AI. 
• Develop their own strategies for using this new knowledge in their own organizations.

Engagement: Participants will have opportunities to ask questions, make comments, share their experiences, and discuss the topic with one another in small groups.

Relationship to Theme:

Audience

Audiences: Other 

Professional Level: All levels 

Scalability: There isn’t a museum person, job, or institution that hasn’t been or will be grappling with the AI issue. It’s here to stay and everyone, from front line staff to Executive Directors, will need to build understanding of this technology to use (or not use) it legally and ethically.

Participants