Creative UK has launched a new report examining how AI and advanced technologies are being adopted across the cultural and creative industries.
Published just ahead of the one-year anniversary of the UK Government’s Industrial Strategy, this report sets out recommendations to “support the effective adoption of responsible AI across the creative industries”.
The Creative Industries Sector Plan, published alongside the Industrial Strategy, tasked Creative UK with convening a group of technology leaders from across the sector to understand the main barriers affecting uptake.
The report, commissioned by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, draws on a qualitative study undertaken with 20 micro and SME businesses, including in-depth case studies with more advanced AI adopters, including Aardman and Framestore.
The study examines how AI and advanced technology adoption unfolds in practice within the cultural and creative industries.
It finds that while responsible AI adoption is well underway across the cultural and creative industries, adoption is uneven and often subject to specific frictions that are particular to the sector – namely their size, shape and structure.
The Government’s Industrial Strategy, which sets out a 10-year growth plan, identified the creative industries as one of eight priority sectors, recognising its strategic importance in enhancing the UK’s productivity and global competitiveness.
The strategy is underpinned by the principle that technology adoption and diffusion are core drivers of long-term economic performance.
However, the structural makeup of the creative sector – which is dominated by micro and small enterprises – presents a number of constraints for adoption, including organisational capacity, governance capability and a business support landscape that tends to overlook AI innovation.
Creative UK’s response includes a focused set of recommendations for government, aimed at helping businesses across the sector to leverage the opportunities afforded by responsible AI and emerging technologies through the removal of barriers to adoption.
These recommendations include:
- Practical governance and oversight tools tailored for creative businesses
- Guidance and tools that help creative businesses make better, more informed decisions and assessments
- Supporting creative businesses to share knowledge and learnings in a structured way, including how to approach adoption correctly and which safeguards to introduce, making risks feel more manageable
- Skills and capability building built directly into everyday workflows
- Funding and finance designed to support step-by-step adoption, recognising that experimenting and changing how work is done are valid forms of innovation
Commenting on the new report, Creative UK chief executive Emily Cloke said: “Many businesses operating in the UK’s creative industries are embracing responsible AI and using digital tools to boost productivity, unleash creativity and stay competitive.
“But our report is clear that adoption is happening despite structural barriers, not because those barriers have been removed. Micro and small creative businesses in particular face constraints with capability, finance and risk that are slowing progress.
“We must match the sector’s ambition with targeted support to drive economic growth. We need practical guidance, better-aligned financial incentives and more robust AI regulation to give creative businesses the confidence to adopt AI responsibly and at scale.
“With the right interventions, we can strengthen the creative industries’ already significant contribution to the UK economy. We look forward to working in partnership with the government to support the sector to accelerate the adoption of ethical AI.”
