Cultivating Inclusive and Sustainable AI Policy for the Creative Sector

CULTURAI addresses one of the most urgent challenges for Europe in the age of Artificial Intelligence (AI): how to protect its vibrant and diverse cultural values and support the independence of its Cultural and Creative Industries (CCIs). It deals with how to harness AI in ways that support creative autonomy, workforce sustainability, and cultural diversity, while mitigating risks of market concentration, problematic moral bias, and inequity. It focuses on the audiovisual (AV) sector and public cultural institutions (GLAM), where absence of robust evidence, governance models, and capacity-building frameworks hampers responsible and future-facing adoption of AI.CULTURAI has five interlinked strategic objectives addressing: (1) AI’s impact on creative labour and autonomy in the AV sector through an evidence-based impact assessment framework; (2) institutional AI ethics and governance in GLAM domain, with an AI Literacy Maturity Model; (3) comparative global policy analysis of AI governance, producing a benchmarking framework and policy foresight for EU decision-makers; (4) co-designing human-centred AI applications through Living Labs in music, film, gaming, and digital storytelling; (5) setting up a Competence Centre, a sustainable platform delivering training, diagnostic tools, and best practices to 500+ CCI organisations in the first 3 years of operation. Our strong consortium leverages world-class expertise in ethics, digital innovation, and culture. The rapid advancement of AI, particularly generative AI, is transforming the cultural and creative industries (CCIs) in profound ways, raising critical questions about its impact on creative professionals, businesses, and the broader cultural economy. While AI offers new opportunities for content creation, audience engagement, and business efficiency, it also disrupts traditional creative processes, raises concerns about intellectual property and artistic ownership, and poses risks to diversity and cultural expression.