How AI summarizes the work of the Germany Advisory Commission

 The following table, created with the AI document analysis tool NotebookLLM, details the claimants, their persecuted ancestors, the artworks subject to the claim, and the recommendation made by Germany's Advisory Commission, which will shut down in November 2025. (Highlights in yellow added by OAD)

It was created by loading the Commission Reports into NotebookLLM and asking the question: list claimants, their persecuted ancestors, the artworks claimed and the decision of the commission

How accurate is NotebookLLM's summary?

Claimants	Persecuted Ancestor(s)	Artworks Claimed	Decision of the Commission
Heirs of A. B.(Community of Heirs, represented by Dr. D. B.)	A. B. (d. 1938) and his four children (C., D., E., and F.)	Painting Das Zitronenscheibchen(Lemon Slice) (c. 1667) by Jacob Ochtervelt	Recommend the restitution of the painting. This was based exclusively on moral and ethical considerations, not legal assessment. The restitution included the stipulation that if the painting is sold within 10 years, the state of Bavaria is to receive 50% of the proceeds.
Heirs of Laura Baumann (Karl Ernst Baumann, grandson)	Laura Baumann (d. 1940)	Painting Portrait der Familie von Dithfurth by Johann J. August von der Embde	Recommend that the painting remain in the museum, and the claimant be paid €10,000 compensation.
Heirs of George E. Behrens(Community of heirs)	George Eduard Behrens (1881–1956)	Painting Pariser Wochentag (Weekday in Paris) (1869) by Adolph von Menzel	Cannot recommend returning the painting.

How to create a false provenance for a forgery, IKEA-style satirical instruction manual from ChatGPT

Here's a satirical IKEA-style instruction guide for assembling a false provenance for a forged artwork. It’s entirely fictional and intended to educate through humor—exposing how shady art dealings might look if they came with assembly instructions. (author: ChatGPT4o)

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🖼️ FAKEVÄRDE

False Provenance Kit – Discreetly elevate your garage painting to gallery prestige!

📦 Contents:

• 1x Faded Auction Catalogue (pre-yellowed)

• 3x Invented Collectors (with vaguely European surnames)

• 1x Retired Art Historian (missing credentials)

• 2x “Private Collection, Switzerland” Labels

• 1x Forged Gallery Sticker

• 1x Typewriter (w/ misaligned keys for “authenticity”)

• 1x Bottle of Coffee (for artificial aging)

Analysing provenance gaps with CHATGPT4O

Can LLM Chatbots automate the analysis of provenance texts in order to detect potentially problematic provenances for the Nazi-era?

In this post we ask ChatGPT4O to "help us to look for gaps in the provenance (Provenance)?"

Using ChatGPT to detect language indicating uncertainty in provenance texts

In this conversation with the AI ChatBot, I asked it to look at the provenance text for Picasso's Woman with Pears, at the MoMa.

The provenance text on MoMa's website is:

[Galerie Kahnweiler, Paris and/or Ambroise Vollard, Paris and/or Galerie Thannhauser, Munich] 

By September 7, 1919 (1912 or 1913?) - at least October 1932, Alfred Flechtheim and/or Galerie Flechtheim, Düsseldorf, Berlin and London. 

By February 1934(?) - March 1937, The Mayor Gallery and/or Douglas Cooper, London. 

March 1937, Pierre Matisse Gallery (consignment no. 882, stock no. 594), New York, purchased from “Cooper”.  

March 31, 1937 - June 2, 1955, Walter P. Chrysler, Jr., New York, purchased from Pierre Matisse Gallery. 

June 2, 1955 - 1996, Florene May Marx (1903-1995, later Schoenborn) and Samuel A. Marx (1948–1964), Chicago, purchased from Walter P. Chrysler, Jr. through M. Knoedler & Co. (consignment no. 4786), New York. 

1996, The Museum of Modern Art, New York, acquired as bequest from Florene May Schoenborn.

I asked ChatGPT to break the provenance text into sentences and to identify any indications of uncertainty or speculation in each. Then I requested that it present the results in a table.

(I requested that it view "and/or" as uncertain.)

Sentence	Indications of Uncertainty or Speculation
[Galerie Kahnweiler, Paris and/or Ambroise Vollard, Paris and/or Galerie Thannhauser, Munich]	Indication of uncertainty in the gallery names
By September 7, 1919 (1912 or 1913?) - at least October 1932, Alfred Flechtheim and/or Galerie Flechtheim, Düsseldorf, Berlin, and London.	Uncertainty about the specific year (1912 or 1913) and presence of "and/or"
By February 1934(?) - March 1937, The Mayor Gallery and/or Douglas Cooper, London.	Uncertainty about the specific date (February 1934) and presence of "and/or"
March 1937, Pierre Matisse Gallery (consignment no. 882, stock no. 594), New York, purchased from "Cooper."	None
1996, The Museum of Modern Art, New York, acquired as bequest from Florene May Schoenborn.	None

Then I asked ChatGPT: 

what is the first year for which there is solid information

ChatGPT replied:

The first year for which there is solid information in the given text is 1937.