勛圖厙

New fellowship to develop responsible AI framework for culture

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勛圖厙 and Arts Council England have announced plans to develop best practice guidance around the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in the cultural sector.

勛圖厙 has announced a collaboration with Arts Council England (ACE) to develop best practice guidance around the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in the cultural sector.

The collaboration is supported by a fellowship award from BRAID (Bridging the Responsible AI Divide), a 3-year national research programme funded by the UKRI Arts and Humanities Research Council.  The award will support Dr Oonagh Murphy, Senior Lecturer in Digital Culture and Society, to work with the Arts Council over the next 18 months to explore how AI might be integrated in an ethical and responsible way into the work of the Arts Council and the organisations it supports. 

The guidance will focus on harnessing the benefits of experimenting with AI as well as exploring the risks it might present to the intellectual property rights and livelihoods of people who work in the sector, and what might be done to mitigate these risks.

Dr Murphys research will involve interviews with Arts Council staff and other cultural sector professionals, to understand how AI might impact their work, as well as reviewing emerging literature and good practice around the use of AI.

I am delighted to be working with ACE to develop policies, practices and frameworks that will support the responsible adoption of AI technologies. This project takes a whole organisation approach, and the embedded nature of the research fellowship provides a unique opportunity to create new ways of thinking about how AI will impact on the work of ACE today, tomorrow and into the future.

Dr Oonagh Murphy, Senior Lecturer in Digital Culture and Society

Tonya Nelson, Executive Director, Enterprise & Innovation at Arts Council England said: Helping cultural organisations understand and integrate new technologies into their work is a vital part of the Arts Councils mission, and there is clearly potential for artificial intelligence to have a huge impact on the cultural sector.  We look forward to working with Dr Murphy to better understand how the sector can harness these technologies responsibly, to help artists and cultural organisations develop innovative business models and create brilliant work that reaches more people from all backgrounds, in every part of the country.

BRAID is a three year research programme funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council, and led by the University of Edinburgh with support from the Ada Lovelace Institute and the BBC.