For Release: September 10, 2026
Artificial Intelligence Exhibit to Open at Cranbrook Institute of Science
New traveling exhibit exploring AI opens on September 27, 2026
Bloomfield Hills, MI — September 10, 2026 — “Artificial Intelligence: Your Mind & The Machine,” the first traveling museum exhibition, developed by The Relayer Group, to focus on the reality and relevance of artificial intelligence, will open to the public on Sunday, September 27, 2026, at Cranbrook Institute of Science.
“Artificial Intelligence has become ubiquitous in our daily lives,” said Lucy Hale, The Susan Flint Cooper Director of Cranbrook Institute of Science. “This exhibit invites visitors to explore AI through hands-on experiences that are both engaging and approachable. We’re excited to bring this timely exhibit to Cranbrook and provide families, students, and lifelong learners with an opportunity to better understand one of today’s most important technologies so they can make informed choices about how and when to use AI and Generative AI.”
“Artificial Intelligence: Your Mind & The Machine” is designed to appeal to visitors of all ages, presenting technology in easy-to-understand terms with accessible games and hands-on interactives. In the exhibit, kids and adults explore what “smart machines” are and how they work. They also learn that the concept of man-made intelligence, popularized by Mary Shelley’s “Frankenstein,” has been around for hundreds of years.
Visitors will get to interact with numerous examples of practical AI: Computers translating stories into different languages; an “intelligent piano player” that helps make any person sound like a virtuoso; a real-time AI “painter” that creates images of visitors in different classical art styles; applications that try to guess visitors’ emotions and ages; software that recognizes objects around it; and much more.
The exhibit also shows how the human brain goes through the process of learning, and how that is different from trying to teach a machine to “think.” Using games and puzzles, visitors try to figure out the best solutions to simple and not-so-simple tasks. Humans learn many skills through trial-and-error and repetition. Artificial intelligence does the same thing by using math.
“One of the most exciting aspects of this exhibition is that it goes beyond simply explaining what artificial intelligence is. Through interactive challenges, demonstrations, and real-world applications, visitors can experience how AI learns, solves problems, and interacts with the world,” said Cranbrook Institute of Science Director of Science, Collections & Research Lizz Parkinson. “Just as importantly, we’re excited to host thoughtful conversations about the opportunities, limitations, and ethical questions surrounding AI, helping visitors develop the critical thinking skills needed to navigate a rapidly evolving technological landscape.”
The exhibit runs at Cranbrook Institute of Science until Sunday, May 9, 2027.
Access to “Artificial Intelligence: Your Mind & The Machine” is included with museum admission. Members of Cranbrook Institute of Science receive free admission to the museum and early access to the exhibit on Saturday, September 26, 2026, from 10:00am to 5:00pm.
As part of the opening on Sunday, September 27, 2026, Cranbrook Institute of Science will host an Ignite Your Curiosity panel discussion on AI in education. Panelists include Justin Bruno, Oakland Intermediate School District Director of AI Strategy and Innovation, Keiren Reynolds, Cranbrook Schools Computer Science Department Head, and Mike Toth, Cranbrook Schools Technology Integration Specialist. The discussion will be from 11:30am to 12:30pm and is included with museum admission.
For more information, visit: science.cranbrook.edu/exhibits/AI.
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Media Contact
Eric Franchy
Director of Communications & Marketing
Cranbrook Institute of Science
248.645.606.9697 (cell) | efranchy@cranbrook.edu
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About Cranbrook Institute of Science
Cranbrook Institute of Science is a natural history and science museum that fosters in its audiences a passion for understanding the world around them and a lifelong love of learning.
Over 134,000 guests visit Cranbrook Institute of Science annually and another 40,000 throughout the region connect via well-developed and highly regarded outreach programs. Cranbrook Institute of Science boasts a collection of more than 250,000 objects from around the world; including an extensive collection of objects from Michigan.
Visitors to Cranbrook Institute of Science experience interactive exhibits, a world-class collection of objects and artifacts, a full-dome planetarium, and a research-quality observatory.
Cranbrook Institute of Science is a part of Cranbrook Educational Community; a 501(c)3 non-profit whose National Historic Landmark campus also includes Cranbrook Academy of Art, Cranbrook Art Museum, Cranbrook Center for Collections and Research, Cranbrook House & Gardens, Cranbrook Schools, and other affiliated cultural and educational programs.
Cranbrook is located at 39221 Woodward Avenue, Bloomfield Hills, MI 48304.
To learn more about Cranbrook Institute of Science, please visit https://science.cranbrook.edu.
About The Relayer Group
“Artificial Intelligence: Your Mind & The Machine” is an exhibit created by The Relayer Group.
“Artificial Intelligence is the single most important technology being developed today . . . by far. Every large company and every government in the world is developing AI. It is part of every conversation about the future of education, jobs, and consumer products,” says HP Newquist, the exhibit director. “Yet very few people know what AI is, or what it does. We want to provide people with a way to understand AI so that it’s real and relevant, not mysterious or frightening. At the same time, we want to show visitors that AI can change the world in ways that might be good and bad, and all of us should think about how that might happen.”
The company creates opportunities that bring innovation and technology to consumers of all ages through enriching and educational experiences. It developed AI Trends, the first-ever publication devoted to the commercial application of artificial intelligence and is also the publisher of the newest edition of The Brain Makers, the definitive history of the early AI industry. As an exhibit developer, The Relayer Group co-produced the extraordinarily successful science-of-sound exhibit, “GUITAR: The Instrument that Rocked the World.”
To learn more about The Relayer Group, visit relayergroup.com.