Towards a fair and transparent market for cultural and creative content in the era of generative AI

Europe’s rich cultural heritage and strong creative industries not only reflect our past but also shape our future. It is by building on this foundation and developing our strengths that we can face the great challenges of our time with confidence and shape a desirable common future. Europe's cultural heritage originates from the interaction between people and places through time and is constantly evolving^[1]. Every citizen has a right to engage with the cultural heritage of their choice, while respecting the rights and freedoms of others, as an aspect of the right to participate freely in cultural life^[2].

Europe’s diverse tangible and intangible cultural heritage and dynamic cultural and creative industries (CCIs) are strategic assets. They enrich our lives, foster social cohesion and societal resilience, and contribute to a sense of belonging. They underpin a growing economy that generates more employment than the automotive industry and a similar trade balance as food, drinks and tobacco combined. Many of Europe’s multinational companies build their international success on European heritage and creativity. At the same time, the sector is nurturing large numbers of dynamic small, medium (SMEs) and micro enterprises, creating employment not the least for young people, while deploying their creativity not only to generate income but also to contribute to social and cultural sustainability, wellbeing and to projecting European values at home and abroad. The cultural and creative industries are engines of innovation not only in themselves, but across the entire economy, thus contributing strongly to Europe’s overall competitiveness and future prosperity.

This destination adopts a people-centred perspective and places cultural heritage and the cultural and creative industries at the very heart of the European economy, its competitiveness and sustainability. R&I activities under this destination will be aligned with the main principles and objectives of the Culture Compass for Europe and support objectives such as circular and just fashion and textiles value-chains, social cohesion and resilience through arts, design and cultural practices and creative entrepreneurial ecosystems for regional development. R&I activities under this destination will support and strengthen European cultural heritage and cultural and creative industries essentially along the following lines:

Europe’s sustainable prosperity and competitiveness: To secure Europe’s future prosperity and competitiveness, it is necessary to unlock the innovative power of our cultural heritage and CCIs. The CCIs contribute strongly to drive innovation not only in themselves but also in other industries and economic sectors, shape new technologies and can contribute to user-driven innovation, open innovation and cross-sectoral innovation, in addition to their wider societal contributions such as to cultural wealth, social cohesion and resilience.

R&I actions under this area will focus on boosting the innovation-driving role of the CCIs, on creative startups, on the impact of artificial intelligence technologies on creativity and CCIs, while ensuring that new technologies are fairly deployed, along with the contributions of artistic intelligence and soft skills, boosting a circular economy and global partnerships in cultural policies and CCIs, among other things.

Supporting people, strengthening our societies and our social model: Cultural heritage, the arts and the CCIs have a crucial role to play for resilient and socially sustainable societies, shaping and strengthening the values that hold us together and give meaning and a sense of belonging.

R&I actions under this area will focus on boosting the role of culture, the arts and creative industries in contributing to well-being, to the social economy and in general the societal impact of cultural heritage. R&I actions will explore and strengthen the role of culture, heritage and CCIs in shaping the technologies of the future and focus on safeguarding intangible heritage and linguistic diversity, on sustainable cultural tourism and on countering illicit trafficking of cultural goods, among others.

Some actions funded under this Destination will need access to and/or generate data. Where appropriate, actions should leverage the data and services available through European Research Infrastructures federated under the European Open Science Cloud or included in the European Strategy Forum on Research Infrastructures (ESFRI) and the ESFRI roadmap, as well as data from relevant European Data Spaces. In particular, projects that produce data or digital tools of potential interest to cultural heritage institutions or researchers should, as appropriate, establish links to and/or consider integrating their results in the European Collaborative Cloud for Cultural Heritage (ECCCH)^[3].Particular efforts should be made to ensure that the data produced in the context of actions under this Destination is FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable and Re-usable).

The innovation ecosystems created and nurtured by the Knowledge and Innovation Communities (KICs) of the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT), in particular the KIC “EIT Culture and Creativity”, may contribute to actions under this destination, and may as appropriate be considered by applicants. Furthermore, applicants are invited to consult funding opportunities in other parts of the Horizon Europe Work Programme, including for instance the funding opportunities for companies, high potential start-ups, entrepreneurs and innovative researchers offered under the European Innovation Council.

R&I actions under this Destination will help ensure Europe’s sustainable prosperity and competitiveness, support people, strengthening our societies and our social model, contribute to protecting our democracy, upholding our values and boosting a global Europe, leveraging our power and partnerships. They will contribute to reaching the UN Sustainable Development Goals and to building a stronger, more participatory and crisis-resilient society and economy. They will support the realisation of the full potential of cultural heritage, arts and cultural and creative industries as drivers of sustainable innovation and a European sense of belonging.

To maximise the impacts of R&I under this Destination in line with EU priorities, international cooperation is encouraged whenever relevant in the proposed topics.

Expected impact:

Proposals for topics under this Destination should set out a credible pathway to contributing to the following expected impact of the Horizon Europe Strategic Plan:

• The full potential of cultural heritage, arts and cultural and creative industries and sectors as drivers of both sustainable innovation and a European sense of belonging is realised through a continuous engagement with society, citizens and economic sectors.

[1] Council conclusions of 21 May 2014 on cultural heritage as a strategic resource for a sustainable Europe (2014/C 183/08) https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/PDF/?uri=CELEX:52014XG0614(08)

[2] CETS 199 - Council of Europe Framework Convention on the Value of Cultural Heritage for Society (coe.int)

[3] See further for instance https://research-and-innovation.ec.europa.eu/research-area/social-sciences-and-humanities/cultural-heritage-and-cultural-and-creative-industries-ccis/cultural-heritage-cloud_en

Expected Outcome:

Projects should contribute to all of the following expected outcomes:

• An in-depth analysis of the socio-economic dimensions and impacts of generative AI on the cultural and creative sectors and related societal implications. Particular attention should be paid to rights and remuneration of creators, diversity of cultural expression, audience perception, consumption patterns, market dynamics, value chains, royalty allocation and the effectiveness of copyright infrastructure.
• Scenarios, value chains, standards and robust, agile solutions to ensure transparency and trust in the generative AI supply chain are developed, aiming for a fair and transparent market for cultural and creative content. This includes: systems for content provenance detection of AI-generated and manipulated creative content; tools and infrastructure that reinforce rights management, creators’ consent, control, and fair compensation for the use of their works in AI training and generation; measures supporting the findability and discoverability of trustworthy cultural and creative content; mechanisms for the long-term preservation and stewardship of AI-generated creative works.
• Adaptive policy frameworks, recommendations, and solutions that embed cultural and ethical considerations in AI development for/with CCSI. These should ensure a fair and ethical market for cultural and creative content, products and services. Concrete solutions to address identified challenges and ensure equitable and sustainable creative economies, including agile mechanisms to ensure equitable value distribution, are proposed.
• A systemic innovation framework for sustainable CCSI is developed and validated. It enables agile experimentation, design, and testing of future-proof business models, that support compliance with ethical standards, legal requirements, and resource-efficient practices adaptable to market and technological changes.

Scope:

The impact of generative AI on the CCSI and society is complex and multifaceted^[1]. While it offers new possibilities, it also raises concerns, particularly regarding copyright, revenue models, employment patterns, and audience engagement. Understanding these socio-economic impacts, including how AI shifts the way the arts and culture are understood, created, practiced, and learnt, is crucial.

Generative AI can produce outputs potentially competing with human-created content. AI can also facilitate the manipulation of creative works, potentially infringing copyright or misleading users. Increasing transparency of AI generated or manipulated content may help to distinguish between human-created and machine-generated content and inform new practices for content dissemination and consumption.

Challenges related to the availability of quality data for AI applications and to the accuracy and reliability of cultural content should be investigated and addressed. In particular, the development of Generative AI technologies requires access to vast amounts of content that is often still protected by copyright. One of the challenges in this context is linked to the difficulty to identify copyrighted works, rightsholders and information on how their works may be used. The purpose of the insights gained is to inform novel practices for managing AI-generated content in cultural and creative fields, including the preservation of valuable outputs, such as artworks created by using AI, and to inform the establishment of adequate policy and legal frameworks and infrastructures.

Proposals should primarily address the following dimensions:

• Investigate and identify emerging trends, including through scenario analysis, and estimate the economic and social implications and impact of AI-generated outputs on the creative content market and related services, and on different actors and sectors, with a special focus on creators’ rights, earnings, allocation of royalties, as well as on diversity, inclusion, consumption and user perception of cultural products and services.
• Examine and propose policy and legal frameworks to ensure a sustainable and innovative creative sector in the age of AI.
• Propose standards and robust solutions to map the generative-AI supply chain, identify, trace and find trusted content, and ensure authenticity; tools for strengthening consent, control, rights management and compensation for the use of artistic and creative data in AI; suggest other measures to ensure a fair and transparent market for cultural and creative content, including solutions to increase the discoverability of trustworthy cultural and creative content, including copyright protected content that could be used for the AI training.
• Investigate new, efficient ways to redefine value creation and transformed business models. This includes looking at uncovering opportunities that support human creation, and increase profitability, while providing frameworks for the distribution of AI-generated and/or assisted creative content, and measures for long term preservation of valuable works created with the use of AI.
• Systemic and agile innovation: propose a validated framework to experiment, design, prototype and test new business models that can adapt to a rapidly evolving market, are resource efficient, and comply with ethical and regulatory frameworks.

By integrating these findings and insights, risks associated with generative AI can be mitigated and new positive prospects developed. Insights gained are expected to contribute to the EU’s global leadership in creativity and innovation.

Proposals should consider relevant policy initiatives, such as the AI Continent Action Plan and the envisaged AI dedicated strategy for the cultural and creative sectors^[2], and build upon existing research and innovation outcomes. Proposals selected under this call should collaborate and, if relevant, build upon the research developed by projects retained under call HORIZON-CL2-2025-01-HERITAGE-04.

[1] See, among others, JRC’sGenerative AI Outlook Report - Exploring the Intersection of Technology, Society and Policy,2025.

[2] Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament, the Council, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions” AI Continent Action Plan” COM (2025) 165 final https://digital-strategy.ec.europa.eu/en/library/ai-continent-action-plan. Under the umbrella of the AI Continent Action Plan, the Apply AI strategy aims at boosting the use of AI in EU strategic industries, including the Cultural and Creative Sectors. The aAI Continent Action Plan also announces the preparation of a dedicated AI strategy for the cultural and creative sectors focused on ensuring that AI enables and reinforces human creativity and that it contributes to safeguarding European cultural and linguistic diversity.