Are AI Bots Threatening Cultural Heritage in the Digital Age?

In late 2024, reports emerged about online cultural heritage collections facing disruption from AI training data bots, raising concerns regarding server overloads and data scraping. To assess the scope of this issue, the GLAM-E Lab conducted a survey from April 2025, targeting international Galleries, Libraries, Archives, and Museums (GLAMs). Of 43 respondents, 39 reported increased traffic attributed to these bots, which overwhelmed many online infrastructures, leading to service disruptions. Key findings indicated that while strategies like robots.txt were largely ineffective, some institutions employed firewall measures against bot traffic. Notably, bots displayed patterns of swarming behavior, often identifying themselves but also masking their origins. The report highlights that the relatively new pressures from AI training bots could significantly burden online cultural collections, prompting institutions to rethink access and infrastructure sustainability. Overall, while the impacts were not uniform, the trend appears widespread, necessitating a collective response within the GLAM sector.

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