At the beginning of November, ERM’s Research Director Pille Runnel and Research Secretary Agnes Aljas delivered a presentation at the ICOM ICME conference held during the ICOM (International Council of Museums) General Conference in Dubai. In their talk, they introduced how new and creative uses of digitised cultural heritage, as well as the application of AI in heritage interpretation, are reshaping understandings of ethnographic museum collections. The ERM researchers emphasised that the role of museums extends beyond the preservation of collections, encompassing their active interpretation within today’s technological environment and the meaningful involvement of communities in this interpretive process.