Jack Higgins of Portland, Oregon, passed a wall of money at the Museum of American Finance. David L. Ryan/Globe Staff
Giggles vibrated through the Museum of American Finance, where fragile bills, analog gadgets, and an AI-interactive portrait of Alexander Hamilton educate all who pass through.
In one room, visitors laughed at the rendering of Hamilton — a patron saint of American finance — which answered any financial questions posed by the audience.
For instance, someone asked for an explanation of compound interest in a way their son, who is interested in Minecraft, would understand.
“Imagine you have one diamond pickaxe, and each day it magically duplicates not just the original, but all duplicates from the day before,” the display said.
The 5,400-square-foot Seaport museum opened its doors Friday and will be now be open Wednesday through Sunday. The opening marked the first time since early 2018 that the Museum of American Finance, an affiliate of the Smithsonian Institution, has occupied a permanent home. Eight years ago, its New York headquarters was flooded. Since then, the museum has traveled across the country with temporary installations.
The savvy Hamilton display — which can understand and speak in dozens of languages — is trained with OpenAI and Google Gemini models. It also asks trivia in three difficulties, depending on visitor proficiency. After talking to AI-Hamilton, guests can provide feedback to help refine its model.
“It made a boring topic a lot more engaging,” said Matt Fergus, a member of the Fidelity Center for Applied Technology team, which helped develop the Hamilton display.
Another exhibit is the Hub of Innovation, which highlights Massachusetts’ and Boston’s financial evolutions. One display includes a 1912 stock certificate for 25 shares of the Boston American League Base-Ball Club, now the Red Sox.
The museum also shows one of Paul Revere’s bank books, a bond used to fund the Louisiana Purchase, and a blank check carried by President John F. Kennedy at the time of his assassination in 1963.