Have a conversation with AI George Washington at Raynham Hall

They’re calling it “The Second Coming” of George Washington.

On April 24, exactly 235 years to the day in 1790 that newly elected President Washington may (or may not) have made a few impromptu remarks in Oyster Bay, he will return to Long Island — albeit in a different form.

An AI version of Washington will be introduced at Raynham Hall, the 18th century home of the Townsend family, now a Town of Oyster Bay museum. GWChat — as its developers call this digitally enhanced version of the first president — will deliver a speech and answer questions.

This is the latest evolution in the digital technologies the museum has been incorporating into its presentations over the past four years. While other museums, including Washington’s home of Mount Vernon, have also used digital re-creations of the first president to better engage with younger visitors, this version is more sophisticated. Digital designer Jack Stephenson, founder of Nine Dot Solutions Inc., the Bellevue, Washington-based firm that created GWChat, is calling it “arguably the most realistic rendering of George Washington to date.”

The image is based on a life mask cast by Jean-Antoine Houdon, a French sculptor who was commissioned to carve a statue of Washington in 1784. The National Portrait Gallery digitally scanned the bust made from that mask and shared the data with Stephenson’s company, which then created photorealistic 3D models of Washington in his uniform.

The result is striking.

“A lot of representations of Washington make him old-looking, with no teeth,” said Harriet Gerard Clark, Raynham Hall Museum’s executive director. Here, she said, “he looks like a guy you’d like to talk with.”

Ultimately, the technology will be used at many historical and other institutions. But, because of past work with Raynham Hall, Nine Dot officials decided to make the Oyster Bay museum a beta site for the technology. The upcoming 250th anniversary of the 1776 American Revolution and the 235th anniversary of Washington’s visit to Long Island in 1790 provided a timely opportunity.

After having spent the previous night at Daniel Youngs’ house in Oyster Bay Cove, tradition holds that the first president briefly stopped and spoke with local residents from the porch of the Wilson House (which still stands today on East Main Street in the hamlet of Oyster Bay). But as there is no record of that in Washington’s journals, it may have been that the presidential entourage just stopped by.

Digital George, however, will be sticking around as a permanent part of Raynham Hall Museum. GWChat will be displayed on a 50-inch screen at the museum’s visitor center. Visitors can ask him questions, many of which he should be able to answer: Extensive training from various sources —including Washington’s own voluminous journals — has been used to equip GWChat with a wealth of information.

“With GWChat, you can sit down and have a conversation with George Washington,” Stephenson said. “Something no one has been able to do for over 225 years.”

Raynham Hall Museum, 30 W. Main St., Oyster Bay, April 24, 4-6 p.m., 516-922-6808, admission is free, raynhamhallmuseum.org /events/meet-george.