Not all news linked to artificial intelligence is gloomy. An AI tool has helped Italian detectives recover paintings, statues and other valuables like medals, manuscripts, stamps and religious objects worth at least $226 million since 2023. A 17th-century painting of Saint Agnes, which had been looted from a church near Naples in 2004, was recently spotted at a fair more than 500 km away when policemen snapped photos of what was on sale and fed them into the specialised software. India, which has stepped up efforts to bring back its own antiquities from around the world, would do well to learn from Italy’s experience. The first task would be to set up a meticulous database of looted artefacts, which the Italian authorities have maintained since 1969.