Have you ever wanted to directly ask Caravaggio why he murdered a man? Or Grandmaster Pinto about his relationship with his mistress?

You might soon be able to… in a way.

Tour operators Colour My Travel are launching what they are describing as Valletta’ first human/AI-powered walking tour.

While an expert tour guide will still take people around the city, they will be assisted by AI versions of personalities from Maltese history.

At various spots around Valletta, participants will be invited to scan a QR code and ask them anything they like about their past.

As it stands, the figures will take the form of text-to-voice chatbots, although they could be developed into avatars in the future.

Dylan Seychell, whose company SeyAI developed the tech behind the project, told GuideMeMalta that this will allow tourists to get answers for questions beyond a guide’s area of expertise.

It could also create more interaction and dialogue between the tour guide and tourists.

This project was developed as part of the HiD-Catch project by the teams at Colour my Travel and SeyAi, and funded by Xjenza Malta.

A special Valletta tour will launch Friday at 7:30pm and is being offered free of charge. In return, participants are requested to complete a short survey at the end of the experience.

Free tickets can be found here.