Theory meets practice: Harnessing AI for practical implementations in digital archiving – November 2024 in Budapest, Hungary

07 November 2024

Eötvös 10 Cultural Centre, Budapest

The eArchiving Initiative organised an event with the Historical Archives of the Hungarian State Security Services and the DLM Forum, in Budapest on Thursday 7 November 2024 to discuss about Artificial Intelligence and exchange information and experiences with and beyond the digital archiving community.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is now an integral part of our daily lives, with new solutions and innovations being announced almost daily. The key question is no longer if archives should embrace AI, but rather how AI experts, IT specialists, and archivists can collaborate to unlock its full potential in digital archiving. This event explored the intersection of AI theory and its practical application in archival work. Alongside theoretical insights from mathematicians and linguists, participants gained a deeper understanding through real-world case studies showcasing the latest AI-driven technologies in action.

Below you can find the presentations from the event.

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 archivesPresentation | Video
  • Peter Kőrösi-Szabó, Domonkos Czifra and Gábor Kovács (Rényi Mathematic Institute, Hungary): Reviving the Unreadable: AI-Powered OCR for Degraded Documents in ArchivesPresentation | Video
  • Peter Kőrösi-Szabó–Domonkos Czifra–Gábor Kovács (Rényi Mathematic Institute, Hungary): Retrieval-Augmented Generation & applications in archivesPresentation | Video
  • Tamás Váradi (HUN-REN Hungarian Research Centre for Linguistic, Hungary): Developing Hungarian language models in the context of global trendsPresentation | Video

From theory to practice: Use cases of AI in archives

  • Anssi Jääskeläinen (XAMK, Finland): Practical Open Source AI “stubs” for archivesPresentation | Video
  • Zsolt Bánki, Noémi Vadász (National Archives of Hungary, Hungary): The use case of artificial intelligence in the National Archives of HungaryPresentation | Video
  • Zoltán Lux, Anna Kulcsár, Dániel Havasi-Mészáros (Historical Archives of the Hungarian State Security, Hungary): Areas of application of AI in Historical ArchivesPresentation | Video
  • Balint Csollei, Chris Royds (The National Archives, UK): AI for Appraisal RecordsPresentation | Video
  • Round table, Shaping the Future of Digital Archiving: Where do you think the eArchiving Initiative should focus?

Closing remarks: István Alföldi (Poliphon and eArchiving Initiative) – Video