Richard Whiddington, You Can Now Talk to the Statues at Versailles, Thanks to A.I., Art Net, 1 August 2025
Ever wanted to chat with a fountain?
The gardens of the Palace of Versailles were, in essence, an exorbitant vanity project. Over four decades, Louis XIV commissioned the era’s finest artists to create what remains the world’s largest collection of outdoor statuary largely for the purpose of glorifying himself and his court.
Versailles’s newest technological venture: a collaboration with OpenAI and the culture-focused platform Ask Mona, allows visitors to chat with 20 of the garden’s statues across three languages. The initiative runs through winter 2025.
