In 2025, the Art Gallery of New South Wales (AGNSW) partnered with Infoxchange to explore how Artificial Intelligence (AI) could support deeper, more personalised engagement with its growing membership base.
With more than 38,000 members – over 20% of whom live regionally or interstate – the Gallery recognised the need to evolve beyond traditional membership categories and static digital experiences. Members were engaging with exhibitions, events, lectures and editorial content, but much of this activity remained fragmented across systems and largely invisible to both members and staff.
AGNSW set out to reimagine its member experience, not simply just to access benefits, but to create a curated, individual relationship with the Gallery.
Overcoming Complex Internal Systems to Improve the User Experience
AGNSW faced several interconnected challenges. The Gallery’s membership experience was constrained by complex category structures, fragmented systems and limited visibility for members, making it difficult to deliver personalised, connected engagement. At the same time, growing demand for digital access, particularly from online members, alongside strong board expectations around AI governance meant any new solution needed to be both member-centred and rigorously safe, transparent and ethical.
Infoxchange worked with AGNSW to develop a structured AI Solution Action Plan, focused on enabling safe, ethical and member-centred innovation.
The engagement assessed:
- Data and AI readiness
- AI risk, bias and governance considerations
- Alignment with National Artificial Intelligence Centre’s Guidance for AI Adoption
- Technical pathways for implementation
- Opportunities to enhance member value through AI
Asking the Right Questions of Data
The initial assessment confirmed that AGNSW had strong foundations in place, particularly its consolidated Power BI environment drawing data from five internal systems, positioning the organisation well to explore AI-enabled personalisation.
Rather than starting with technology, the process centred on critical AI questioning to incorporate ethical considerations focusing on transparency, bias mitigation, responsible data use, respectful representation of the Gallery’s culture, and strong board-level governance to ensure AI enhanced member trust, rather than undermined it.
Questions included:
- What data would be most meaningful to members?
- How should AI represent the Gallery’s voice and values?
- What tone, guidance style and interaction model would feel helpful, not transactional?
- How could AI enhance discovery without replacing human curation?
This human-centred design approach ensured the solution was shaped around member experience, not system capability.
Paving the Way for High-Value Opportunities to Strengthen Art Gallery of NSW’s Membership Base
Through the Action Plan, several high-value opportunities emerged:
- A personalised member hub
A single portal where members can view their activity, access tailored content and manage their engagement with the Gallery. - AI-assisted discovery and thematic search
Enabling members to explore exhibitions, lectures, podcasts, archives and editorial content based on personal interests, including content they may not have otherwise discovered. - A human-centred AI assistant
Designed not as a visible chatbot, but as a seamlessly embedded experience that supports navigation, answers common questions and adapts responses based on membership type.
Head of Digital Memberships Yvette Pratt shared, “the ability for AI to surface information that someone might not have naturally discovered is a big deal. It means people can find things they’re already interested in, or didn’t even realise they had an interest in. Community is a major part of our work in the membership team, which allows people who are local, interstate or abroad to better explore what and where people of similar interests might be navigating to, or events they may be attending.”
Next Steps of their AI Adoption Journey
The final AI Solution Action Plan recommended a staged, practical approach:
- Appoint an internal AI lead to guide decision-making
- Prepare Power BI environments for machine learning development
- Run a 12-week pilot in partnership with a university intern
- Develop AI logic, content structures and response models
- Provide implementation-ready code to future web suppliers
- Select vendors with accessibility and NSW Government IT expertise
Mentoring to bring AGNSW’s AI Solution Action Plan to life
With 1:1 mentoring support from Infoxchange, this approach allowed AGNSW, a small not-for-profit team of 16 staff, to move forward confidently without needing deep in-house technical capability in the initial piloting phases.
Governance and Risk Assurance
A critical outcome of the AI Solution Action Plan and mentoring support was enabling AGNSW to confidently progress discussions with its board.
Infoxchange supported the Gallery to:
- Conduct a structured AI risk assessment
- Address concerns around bias, transparency and data use
- Define clear governance and accountability pathways
- Ensure alignment with NSW Government Azure infrastructure and security controls
This work gave board members confidence that AI adoption was being approached responsibly, not only from a technical perspective, but through ethical and cultural stewardship.
As a result, AGNSW was able to progress AI integration planning in a way that would not have been possible previously.
As Yvette Pratt explained:
“We would not be in the position we’re in now without the risk assessment that Infoxchange helped us with – as an organisation, we were one of the first to develop an AI policy, and our board is very astute to the to the issues that can happen. Not just security, but to bias as well, and this process allowed us to take the plan to the board with confidence who were really assured by what we could present to them.”
By shifting from viewing members as categories to understanding them as individuals, AGNSW is laying the groundwork for a more intuitive, inclusive and connected cultural experience.
The Gallery is now preparing to commence its pilot phase, marking a significant step toward delivering a world-class, personalised digital member experience – one that deepens connection to art, culture and community, wherever members live.
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