First Thursday Founder Callum Hale-Thomson on AI Adoption in Galleries

In this episode of the ArtTactic Podcast, host Adam Green sits down with Callum Hale-Thompson, founder of First Thursday, to explore the surprisingly high adoption of AI within the art gallery sector. Despite the art world's reputation for being slow to adopt new technologies, Hale-Thompson’s recently released 'AI in Galleries Report' reveals that 84% of gallery professionals are already using AI—primarily for writing tasks like press releases, emails, and artist bios. The conversation dives into why job loss fears are low in the art market, attributing this to the industry’s reliance on personal relationships, taste, and discretion—skills AI struggles to replicate. However, concerns around client confidentiality, data privacy, and lack of institutional oversight are growing, with under 10% of galleries having formal AI policies. Hale-Thompson emphasizes that AI use is currently grassroots and unregulated, driven by junior staff experimenting with consumer tools like ChatGPT. Looking ahead, he predicts AI will deepen into backend operations—especially in logistics and data management—unlocking hidden value from unstructured communications and forgotten client leads. The episode concludes with a call to action for galleries to implement guardrails and institutional AI frameworks to safely harness the technology’s potential. Key takeaways include: 1) AI adoption in galleries is already widespread but shallow, focused on basic writing tasks; 2) The art world’s human-centric nature insulates it from mass job displacement; 3) Confidentiality risks are real and growing due to unregulated personal AI use; 4) Future AI impact will likely be in logistics and data integration, not in creative or client-facing roles; 5) Galleries should establish policies, use secure gallery-level AI accounts, and invest in AI tools tailored to their specific workflows. The report, available free at first-thursday.com, offers a vital snapshot of a transformative moment in the art market’s digital evolution.