Brussels, 25 November 2024
On November 7, 2024, the Eötvös 10 Cultural Centre in Budapest became a hub for innovation as experts gathered for the conference ‘Theory Meets Practice: Harnessing AI for Practical Implementations in Digital Archiving.’ Jointly organized by the eArchiving Initiative and the Historical Archives of the Hungarian State Security (ÁBTL), the event showcased how Artificial Intelligence (AI) is transforming historical archives in Hungary and across Europe.
Opening the conference, Dr. Cseh Gergő Bendegúz, general director of ÁBTL, highlighted the crucial role of technological advancements in ensuring the preservation of today’s events for future generations.
Ethical Challenges and Local Innovations
The conference’s first session kicked off with Sven Schlarb, technical lead of the eArchiving Initiative and scientist at the AIT Austrian Institute of Technology. Schlarb tackled the ethical dilemmas posed by AI’s increasing role in archival sources.
Hungarian research institutes took center stage next, presenting innovative projects tailored for archival applications. Experts from the Rényi Mathematics Institute—Péter Kőrösi-Szabó, Domokos Czifra, and Gábor Kovács—demonstrated the use of AI-powered OCR technology for restoring degraded documents, as well as retrieval-augmented generation methods applicable to archives. Meanwhile, Tamás Váradi from the Hungarian Research Centre for Linguistics (HUN-REN) examined the development of Hungarian language models in the context of global AI trends.
AI in Action: From Finland to the UK
The second session expanded the discussion to practical AI applications in archives across Europe. Anssi Jääskeläinen from Finland’s South Eastern University of Applied Sciences (XAMK) highlighted the potential of Open Source AI tools for archives. Experts Zsolt Bánki and Noémi Vadász shed light on how AI has already been utilized in the National Archives of Hungary, while ÁBTL researchers Zoltán Lux, Anna Kulcsár, and Dániel Havasi-Mészáros delved into AI’s role in preserving historical archives. The session concluded with Balint Csollei and Chris Reynolds from The National Archives, UK, who shared insights on AI’s use in record appraisal.
Collaboration: The Key to Success
The conference concluded with a roundtable discussion emphasizing collaboration as the foundation for effective AI implementation in archives. Experts agreed that archivists must work closely with records managers, content producers, and IT specialists to ensure that AI tools are properly trained to offer the public faster access to crucial documentation and information.
As AI continues to reshape industries, events like this underline the critical role of collaboration and innovation in preserving Europe’s historical legacy for generations to come.
The presentations are now available and recordings of the event will be released in the coming days.
Related topics
Digital Europe Programme Funding for Digital eArchiving
Presentations
Keynote presentation: Dr. Gergő Bendegúz Cseh (Director General, Historical Archives of the
Hungarian State Security) Security archives of the 21st century – Video
Opening remarks: Zoltán Lux (Historical Archives of the Hungarian State Security) and Janet
Anderson (eArchiving Initiative – Video
Archives facing the challenge of AI.
- Sven Schlarb (Austrian Institute of Technology, Austria): Ethical aspects of AI in archives – Presentation | Video
- Peter Kőrösi-Szabó, Domonkos Czifra and Gábor Kovács (Rényi Mathematic Institute, Hungary): Reviving the Unreadable: AI-Powered OCR for Degraded Documents in Archives – Presentation | Video
- Peter Kőrösi-Szabó–Domonkos Czifra–Gábor Kovács (Rényi Mathematic Institute, Hungary): Retrieval-Augmented Generation & applications in archives – Presentation | Video
- Tamás Váradi (HUN-REN Hungarian Research Centre for Linguistic, Hungary): Developing Hungarian language models in the context of global trends – Presentation | Video
From theory to practice: Use cases of AI in archives
- Anssi Jääskeläinen (XAMK, Finland): Practical Open Source AI “stubs” for archives – Presentation | Video
- Zsolt Bánki, Noémi Vadász (National Archives of Hungary, Hungary): The use case of artificial intelligence in the National Archives of Hungary – Presentation | Video
- Zoltán Lux, Anna Kulcsár, Dániel Havasi-Mészáros (Historical Archives of the Hungarian State Security, Hungary): Areas of application of AI in Historical Archives – Presentation | Video
- Balint Csollei, Chris Royds (The National Archives, UK): AI for Appraisal Records – Presentation | Video
- Round table, Shaping the Future of Digital Archiving: Where do you think the eArchiving Initiative should focus?
Sources – EU Commission and E-ARK Foundation