ICOM Adopts New Museum Code of Ethics Taking Aim at AI, Colonialism, and Climate Change

For the first time in over 20 years, the International Council of Museums has revised its code of ethics to address new and pressing issues facing institutions, including “the rise of digital technologies, the climate crisis, and the ongoing need to address the legacies of colonialism through responsible and ethical museum practice,” per a press release.

The revised code was officially adopted in late June at the organization’s 41st Ordinary General Assembly in Paris, following a years-long development process spearheaded by its Ethics Committee and overseen by the executive board. ICOM first adopted a code of ethics in 1986 and last revised it in 2004. The new code—approved by more than 85 percent of participants and developed between 2019 and this year—puts front and center the “global challenge of the climate crisis,” calling on members to achieve carbon neutrality and arguing they “must address the role museums have played during the colonising process.”

The new code also formally incorporates ICOM’s revised museum definition, controversially adopted in 2022, which holds that a museum is “a not-for-profit, permanent institution in the service of society that researches, collects, conserves, interprets, and exhibits tangible and intangible heritage.”

Several new provisions read as pointed responses to recent controversies. On digital technology, ICOM states that anyone working in or with museums who uses such tools—AI presumably among them—“should help minimize risk by taking into account their ethical implications and potential environmental impact, as well as their capacity for spreading inaccurate or false information.” The code continues: “They should proceed cautiously, mindful of the impact of these technologies on intellectual property rights, Indigenous rights and data sovereignty.”

On the question of political interference, a timely concern as the Trump administration moves to reshape the Smithsonian Institution over claims of “ideological capture,” ICOM calls on museums to “resist financial or political influence.” “Regardless of funding sources or governance models,” it reads, “museums should maintain control of the content and integrity of their activities, exhibitions and publications.”

Perhaps most pointed, given Ukraine’s calls last year for Russia’s expulsion from ICOM over allegations that Russian forces looted artworks and cultural patrimony during the ongoing war, is a provision explicitly stating that museums “should refrain from acquiring objects from occupied territories.”

The code covers much more ground, but its animating spirit is clear throughout. “Museums are facing major geopolitical, social, economic and climatic challenges, while some long-accepted societal practices and attitudes are being questioned,” it reads. That may be an understatement.