Andreea Diana Tanasescu, founder of the cultural movement 'La blouse roumaine', believes that a relationship has already been created between artificial intelligence (AI) and traditional Romanian blouse, but AI is based on the information that humans feed it and if this is not correct, it can dilute culture to the point of destroying it.

Tanasescu explained to AGERPRES on Friday that in the era of accelerated digitalization, intangible heritage risks being filtered through the lens of systems that do not know its roots.

As artificial intelligence becomes increasingly present in the processes of archiving, creation and cultural representation, the question arises as to who decides what is relevant, authentic or worthy of preservation and what we lose when traditions are reduced to data sets, ignoring the voice of communities and specialists, said the founder of the cultural movement 'La blouse roumaine'.

'Symbols, motifs, the connection with nature are an accumulation, a representation of a world that was made by man, not by a robot. It's very interesting that it can be a resource for artificial intelligence. I want us to better understand that we have to train artificial intelligence so that it recognizes what is valuable. And how do we decide what is valuable if we don't know? First of all, it's a negotiation that we have to have, with each other, before having it with artificial intelligence. Artificial intelligence can harm the traditional if we don't know how to feed artificial intelligence programs, we don't know how to train them. They will take what they find and what these programs find sometimes is not what represents us. And then, this information can simplify everything, can dilute culture until it erases it', detailed Andreea Diana Tanasescu.

She specified that the way we organize our information is important, if we treat it with the utmost seriousness, the way we post the story of a photo on social networks, the cataloging we do, since the context of the information can decide the information reservoir of AI.

'Where AI cannot go are the meaning, the context, the root, the soul, because AI is just a technology. It depends on us that the tradition does not disappear. First, by living it, to stay alive. Second, by looking for its source, the root, getting as close as possible to the original. Thirdly, by educating each other', Andreea Diana Tanasescu said.

Andreea Diana Tanasescu held a debate with the public on Friday at the Banatean Village Museum in Timisoara on the topic 'Participatory Ethnography and Artificial Intelligence. Who documents? Who decides? What is lost?'

The event was organized by the Banatean Village Museum in Timisoara in partnership with the 'La blouse roumaine' Community and is part of the series of events dedicated to the Universal Day of Romanian Blouse. AGERPRES (RO - writing by: Otilia Halunga; EN - writing by: Bogdan Gabaroi)