The Creative Industries Sector Plan came out last week and I took some time to read through it. Here are a few things that surprised me:
- I assume for the sake of readability, there is a lack of technical language in the report. AI gets mentioned along 3D printing, robotics and XR but the devil is in the details of these umbrella terms. The maker movement in the UK has come and gone and 3D printing has not revolutionised very much whereas the use of LLMs is transforming writing and reading in almost every work environment. It would have been nice to get more a flavour of how the authors viewed each technology’s impact on the economy. Of course any predictions will be risky, but if Gartner can keep getting it wrong, I think it’s ok for a Sector Plan to place at least some bets on the table. Also, I would have avoided using terms like ‘human creativity’ or ‘human-led creativity’ as it makes space for Silicon Valley fever dreams of general artificial intelligence.
- The ghost of Brexit looms over the report. Only mentioned twice in the 80 page document, it has fundamentally reshaped immigration in creative education and along with recent changes to student visas , risks the entire pipeline of talent. The report doesn’t connect this crisis to the skills gap. It’s a shame because given the sector is mostly made up of SMEs, developing a programme to streamline the sponsorship process would be such an easy win.
- In the report, major infrastructure investments are almost always a real estate project with multinationals. That’s a shame in a country where access to housing, light industrial units and live/work spaces has been compromised for most creative people and transport links to city centres keeps getting more expensive. An easy win would be to work with commercial co-working spaces and supporting them in offering free/very cheap desks for local creatives. 3Space in Brixton is a very successful example of this kind of scheme and could easily be rolled out nationally.
- Finally, fashion, design and architecture are strangely absent from the report when they’re notorious for unpaid (or poorly paid) internships, terrible working conditions and disproportionate climate impact. I understand the performing arts and video games have much more active lobbies in government, but it would have been nice to hear more about how they could be supported in creating better jobs while reducing pollution, e-waste and exported waste.
It’s a long report but an important read. I hope the relaunched Creative Industries Council gets to work more closely with RIBA, the Design Council and the British Fashion Council. They represent industries that are critical to British life today and in the future, no matter how AI develops.