Wits School of Governance joins €5-million European project to shape responsible AI for the cultural sector

The Wits School of Governance (WSG) has become part of a major international research effort to ensure that artificial intelligence strengthens, rather than displaces, human creativity. Through the UNESCO Chair in Cultural Entrepreneurship and Policy, based at WSG, the School is a partner in Project CULTURAI, a four-year initiative funded by a €5-million Horizon Europe grant from the European Commission.

CULTURAI brings together an 11-partner international consortium coordinated by the KB nationale bibliotheek National Library of the Netherlands. The project examines how AI can be used responsibly across the audiovisual sector and public cultural institutions, including libraries, archives and museums, with a particular focus on ethics, governance, labour market impacts, inclusivity and AI literacy.

Many of the AI tools now reshaping creative industries were developed without meaningful input from the creators whose work they affect. CULTURAI seeks to correct this by grounding its work in large-scale research on how AI is experienced by creative practitioners, complemented by "Living Labs" in which artists co-design tools alongside researchers. The project will also establish a new International Competence Centre for AI literacy and develop governance frameworks aimed at protecting diversity within cultural life.

A further output of the project will be a global benchmarking analysis intended to guide European policymakers and lay the groundwork for the International Competence Centre, which is set to support collaboration, knowledge-sharing and expertise development across the cultural sector from 2030 onwards.

The CULTURAI consortium draws together universities, research institutes and cultural organisations from the Netherlands, Italy, Luxembourg, Scotland, Croatia, France and South Africa. Partners include TU Delft, the Delft Digital Ethics Centre, the Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Monash University European Research Foundation ETS, the University of Luxembourg, the University of Edinburgh, the University of the Witwatersrand, UNESCO, the Europeana Foundation, IDEA Consult, and the Institute for Development and International Relations (IRMO).

Within this consortium, WSG contributes expertise in large-scale research, global benchmarking from the perspective of the Global South, and the development of training materials. Professor Avril Joffe, UNESCO Chair in Cultural Entrepreneurship and Policy at WSG, holds the Scientific Lead role across the consortium and will lead the School's contribution to research, policy and regulation on AI, support the development of the Competence Centre, and help shape policy recommendations in collaboration with partner institutions.

"I am looking forward to ensuring that the voice of Africa is present in this comprehensive analysis of AI governance frameworks," says Avril Joffe. "WSG will draw on CULTURAI's framing of 'culture for AI' and its empirical database to deepen understanding of how AI is affecting labour in the public cultural sector. This work will also feed into important discussions at WSG on public policy and the regulatory mechanisms needed to govern AI in public cultural institutions."

Through its involvement in CULTURAI, WSG reaffirms its commitment to ensuring that African perspectives inform global conversations on technology, governance and the future of cultural work.