Beyond the End of Conservation: Tacit Knowledge and Practical Skills in the Era of AI

Recently, Muñoz Viñas, in his Studies in Conservation paper ‘The End of Conservation?’, critically reflected on the state of cultural heritage conservation, suggesting the field is on the verge of profound transformation. Over its 200-year history, conservation has undergone significant shifts in beliefs, practices, and priorities. Muñoz Viñas highlights several emerging trends, such as the recognition that an excessive focus on conservation may be disproportionate, the acceptance of natural ageing and deterioration as an integral part of an object's life cycle, and the loss of traditional skills and techniques – raising questions about the future identity and purpose of the profession. These patterns suggest that cultural heritage conservation is undergoing a radical redefinition of its goals, methods, and relevance. In this context, we propose that the future of the profession must focus on the recognition and conservation of practical expertise (traditional practical skills) or tacit knowledge as its defining identity. While technological advances, particularly artificial intelligence and machine learning, will inevitably transform many diagnostic, data analysis, and monitoring tasks, the capacity for intervention – such as hands-on practical skills, ethical decision-making, and object-specific judgment guided by intuition – remains irreplaceable, at least in the short term.