AI-Powered Digital Museum to Bring Millions of UK Natural History Specimens Together

Researchers are using artificial intelligence to create a vast digital museum of millions of scientific specimens held in natural history collections across the United Kingdom.

From golden beetles to discoveries associated with Charles Darwin, the project aims to bring a wide range of material into a shared digital space, offering a broader view of the natural world.

The specimens document natural history but are spread across collections in different parts of the country. Digitising them could make it easier to explore material beyond the boundaries of individual collections.

Artificial intelligence is central to the effort to turn these extensive holdings into a digital resource. The ambition is to deliver a major advance in understanding the world through the scientific evidence preserved in the collections.