Artificial Intelligence-Assisted Retrieval of Owo Cultural Artifacts from Heterogeneous Online Sources

Abstract

Preservation of cultural heritage has increasingly been dependent on artificial intelligence (AI) to tackle issues of
documentation, accessibility and retrieval. The present research centers around the system of an AI-based
retrieval system designed for Owo cultural objects, a historically important collection in Ondo State, Nigeria.
Through machine learning, natural language processing, and chatbot technology, the system overcomes access
barriers, improves familiarity with, and comprehension of these artifacts. The study is based on data collection
across a range of sources, data pre-processing steps to enable structured storage, and the development of a Flask
based API to provide a platform for easy and on demand retrieval. A chatbot driven by Botpress is used as the
user interface to allow the system to be used via natural language queries. The AI model, by learning textual and
image-based representation, showed excellent accuracy for artifact retrieval, and multimodal learning itself
further improved performance of classification. The paper demonstrates the possibility of application of AI as
connecting bridge between classical preservation techniques and current digital accessibility, guaranteeing the
permanent recording and interaction with Owo cultural properties. Future developments include augmenting
NLP functionality, scaling the system, and increasing the scope of the datasets in order to further improve
accuracy of artifact retrieval.