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DRAFT REPORT (2025/2180(INI))

On the cultural and creative sectors in the age of AI

CULT-PR-786971

Committee on Culture and Education · Rapporteur: Hélder Sousa Silva

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A draft report by Parliament's Committee on Culture and Education on the cultural and creative sectors in the age of AI. It finds AI is already used across these sectors and asks the Commission for an ambitious AI strategy for them, with a roadmap and measurable objectives. It calls for full enforcement of the AI Act's transparency rules, a registration mechanism for web crawlers, machine-readable formats to exclude works from AI training, and EU safeguards against unauthorised replication of voice, image or likeness. It asks for fair remuneration and transparency on training data, and for sector-specific policies for music, audiovisual and video games, books and publishing, cultural heritage, and news media. It calls for labelling of fully AI-generated tracks and publications, action against streaming fraud, standards for cultural heritage metadata, and enforcement of Digital Services Act obligations for AI-generated overviews.

Committee position. The rapporteur proposes that Parliament call for an ambitious AI strategy for the cultural and creative sectors, full enforcement of AI Act transparency rules, sector-specific measures, safeguards against unauthorised replication of voice, image and likeness, and fair remuneration and transparency on training data.

Key points

  1. States that ethical, human-centred AI can support rather than replace human creativity across the creative value chain, from research to production, distribution and monetisation.
  2. Calls on the Commission to deliver an ambitious AI strategy for the cultural and creative sectors without delay, with an implementation roadmap, measurable sector-specific objectives and close consultation with creators, performers, cultural institutions, small and medium-sized enterprises, technology providers and consumers.
  3. Calls on the Commission to assess AI's real impact on jobs and income of authors and performers and to evaluate AI literacy and upskilling needs in these sectors.
  4. Stresses that transparency, respect for exclusive rights, contractual freedom, voluntary licensing, clear liability rules and enforcement of existing law are needed so rights holders can authorise or prohibit use of their works.
  5. Calls for full enforcement of the AI Act's transparency obligations for AI-generated and manipulated content, and for further targeted, sector-specific EU action beyond the existing horizontal framework.
  6. Calls on the Commission to enforce existing obligations on algorithmic recommendation systems and to assess further measures to safeguard discoverability of European works.
  7. Invites the Commission to assess a mandatory identification and registration mechanism for web crawlers used for AI training or data exploitation, and calls for standardised machine-readable formats, potentially managed by the European Union Intellectual Property Office, letting rights holders exclude works from AI training.
  8. Calls for EU safeguards protecting performers and creators from unauthorised AI replication of their voice, image or likeness, with accessible remedies, and for marking and provenance obligations to follow content through distributors, aggregators and platforms.
  9. Calls for fair remuneration and value distribution for rights holders whose works are used in AI systems, and for the Commission to strengthen the Model Documentation Form and revise the Template for the Public Summary of Training Content under Article 53(1)(d) of the AI Act.
  10. Calls on the Commission and member states to add tailored sector-specific policies for music, audiovisual, book and publishing, cultural heritage and news media sectors.
  11. Calls for clear labels on fully AI-generated tracks on streaming platforms, action against infringing content and streaming fraud, and aggregate reporting with appeal procedures for affected artists, labels and distributors.
  12. Calls for labelling and filtering of fully AI-generated publications by online booksellers, distributors and self-publishing platforms, and for common EU standards on metadata quality, AI ethics, intellectual property and data governance in cultural heritage.

Who is affected

  • Cultural and creative sectors, including music, audiovisual, book and publishing, cultural heritage and news media, which would receive sector-specific policies and support.
  • Rights holders, authors, performers and creators, who would gain safeguards against unauthorised replication and rights to fair remuneration and transparency on training data.
  • AI providers and platforms, which would face registration, labelling, provenance and enforcement obligations.
  • Cultural heritage institutions, which would receive standards and guidance and retain control over digitised representations of their collections.
  • News media and journalism, which face risks to pluralism, editorial integrity and sustainability, and would benefit from enforcement of Digital Services Act obligations.

Figures and deadlines

  • EUR 39 billion, the estimated market value of the European book and publishing sector.
  • Around EUR 142 billion, revenues generated by the European audiovisual market in 2024.
  • EUR 5.7 billion, recorded music revenues in the EU in 2024.
  • 77.4 %, the share of revenue growth in recorded music accounted for by paid streaming.

Legal basis: Article 167 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union.