Artificial Intelligence Breaking Ground in the Creative Sector: Redefining the Boundaries of Artistic Expression
The UK is at the forefront of AI research, particularly in areas relevant to the creative industries such as image, text, and sound data. This is evident in the strong institutional collaboration, active policy engagement, and rapid talent development centred on AI-driven innovation.
A significant development in this area is the launch of the Centre for Creative AI, a collaborative initiative between University College London, the Royal College of Art, and The Brandtech Group. This Centre, set to open in autumn 2025, aims to unite academia, industry, and the arts to pioneer AI applications across media, entertainment, fashion, music, and art.
The UK government is also proactively addressing the legal and copyright challenges posed by AI in creative sectors. Following a major public consultation, expert working groups have been formed, comprising representatives from AI firms and creative industry stakeholders. These groups aim to find practical solutions that balance AI innovation with robust protection for creators’ intellectual property.
The intersection of AI and intellectual property is receiving particular attention, with evidence of growing licensing deals for AI training data. However, creators’ earnings face challenges in this evolving environment. This legal framework development runs alongside efforts to develop AI talent and reshape creative work practices, recognising AI as a "horizontal technology" now integrally affecting creative processes and organisational strategies in the UK’s creative economy.
The report "The art in the artificial," published by the Creative Industries Policy and Evidence Centre (PEC) and Nesta, details the results of a survey of employers in the creative industries in the UK. The report recommends supporting a higher level of commercial activity and academic research collaboration between AI researchers and the creative industries in the UK.
The report was peer-reviewed prior to publication and published on 11th June 2020. It can be found at this link.
As AI tools become more effective and accessible, with extensive open source software available, they are influencing new ways of creativity and artistic activity. AI breakthroughs are impacting the creative industries, with digital content now being analysed using machine learning and recommendations for content being made by machine learning algorithms on platforms like Spotify and YouTube.
However, direct applications of AI in creative industries are relatively low, with the absolute level of projects in the tens of companies and projects. The UK may be relatively advanced in this area compared to other countries, with high levels of research in Generative Adversarial Networks (GANs), a recent key development in generative AI.
The report was written by a team at Nesta, with Kostas Stathoulopoulos and Joel Klinger contributing as Principal Researcher, Innovation Mapping and Data Developer, Innovation Mapping respectively. John Davies, another Principal Data Scientist at Nesta, created the original image for the report using Tensorflow DeepDream. Juan Mateos-Garcia, the Director of Innovation Mapping at Nesta, was also involved in the report.
The UK's departure from the EU has affected the way British firms trade and work with European counterparts in the creative industries. Despite these challenges, the UK remains committed to shaping the future of AI in the creative industries through a combination of collaborative research hubs, government-led legal frameworks, and industry-academia partnerships focused on innovation, ethical use, and talent development.
- The Centre for Creative AI, a collaborative initiative between University College London, the Royal College of Art, and The Brandtech Group, aims to unite academia, industry, and the arts to pioneer AI applications across various creative industries.
- The UK government is forming expert working groups to address the legal and copyright challenges posed by AI in the creative sectors, with the aim of finding practical solutions that balance AI innovation with robust protection for creators’ intellectual property.
- The report "The art in the artificial," published by the Creative Industries Policy and Evidence Centre (PEC) and Nesta, recommends supporting a higher level of commercial activity and academic research collaboration between AI researchers and the creative industries in the UK.
- As AI tools become more effective and accessible, they are influencing new ways of creativity and artistic activity, with digital content now being analysed using machine learning and recommendations for content being made by machine learning algorithms on platforms like Spotify and YouTube.
- AI breakthroughs are impacting the creative industries, and the UK may be relatively advanced in this area compared to other countries, with high levels of research in Generative Adversarial Networks (GANs), a recent key development in generative AI.
- The UK's departure from the EU has affected the way British firms trade and work with European counterparts in the creative industries, but the UK remains committed to shaping the future of AI in the creative industries through a combination of collaborative research hubs, government-led legal frameworks, and industry-academia partnerships focused on innovation, ethical use, and talent development.
- The development of AI in the UK's creative economy requires evidence-based policies, skills development, and strategies that support innovative applications of AI across different sectors, including media, entertainment, fashion, music, and art.
