TL;DR

Cambridge University Botanic Garden has launched “Talking Plants,” an exhibition it calls a “world first” where visitors can have two-way AI conversations with 20 plants. Each plant has its own name and personality, and responds to questions about evolution, ecology, and cultural significance.

Scan, Chat, Learn

The exhibition works simply: visitors scan a code next to each plant to open a chat-box on their phone. Conversations can be voice or text-based, with the AI responding in character. The system was developed by Nature Perspectives alongside the garden’s team.

The plants have distinct personalities. “Jade the Vine” is described as “the sassy ceiling-swinger of the Tropics House.” “Titus Junior the Titan Arum” is “blunt, dramatic and famously foul-smelling.” “Tumbo the Welwitschia” is “dry-witted and defiantly stubborn.”

Science First, AI Second

Prof Sam Brockington, the exhibition curator and professor of evolution at Cambridge, stressed that the technology is a supplement, not a replacement. “This is not about replacing our human expertise, but about finding new ways to stimulate learning and wonder about the plant kingdom.”

The garden hopes the exhibit will provide insight into how to engage people with biodiversity loss and environmental change. Gal Zanir, co-founder of Nature Perspectives, described it as shifting “from learning about nature to learning from and with it.”

Addressing Accuracy

Asked whether the AI could generate incorrect responses, Zanir said the technology was “fine-tuned” on curated scientific data selected by the team’s ecology experts. Cambridge has prior form in this area — its Museum of Zoology used similar AI technology in 2024 to let visitors chat with animals on display.

The Talking Plants exhibition runs from 11 February to 12 April.