Rethinking AI, Culture & Creativity | Oonagh Murphy, Arts Council England

Why are we using AI? This episode of Technically Creative is brought to you by The Future of Life Insitute, an independent nonprofit working to steer transformative technologies toward benefiting humanity. https://futureoflife.org/ In this episode of Technically Creative, Orlando Wood sits down with Oonagh Murphy, Director of the Responsible AI Academy at Arts Council England, Senior Lecturer at Goldsmiths, University of London, and former Turing Fellow at the Alan Turing Institute, to explore what responsible AI actually looks like for artists, museums, cultural institutions and the creative industries. As generative AI becomes embedded across creative work, Oonagh argues that organizations need to start with a deceptively simple question: not “How can we use AI?” but “Why would we use AI?” That distinction opens up a much bigger conversation about AI ethics, copyright, intellectual property, data, trust, governance and the responsibility creative organizations have to the artists, audiences and communities they serve. Oonagh explains why responsible AI governance can actually make organizations more effective, how Arts Council England developed its approach to AI policy, and why there is no single AI policy that every creative organization should simply copy. Responsible AI requires understanding your purpose, consulting the people affected, establishing your own red lines and making deliberate choices about where AI belongs. The conversation also explores the unique role of arts and cultural institutions in the age of artificial intelligence. Museums, galleries, libraries and artists can provide spaces to slow technology down, question it, make its impact tangible and help society understand what AI means beyond the hype. We explore: • Why responsible AI starts with “why,” not “how” • AI ethics and governance for creative organizations • How Arts Council England developed its approach to artificial intelligence • Why organizations need their own AI policies and ethical red lines • Copyright, intellectual property and AI training data • Why trust and transparency matter when adopting AI • Whether artists should use generative AI • How AI is changing museums, galleries and cultural institutions • The MUNCH Museum's experiments with AI, data and its collection • Why museums may become data custodians in the AI era • AI-generated grant applications and Arts Council England's approach to assessing them • The role of human expertise in an increasingly automated world • Why responsible AI can be good project management rather than simply compliance • How artists can help society understand the impact of emerging technology • Why culture provides a space to slow down and ask better questions • The difference between purposeful AI adoption and simply using AI because everyone else is This is a conversation about moving beyond the binary debate around whether AI is good or bad and asking more useful questions about how we choose to build, govern and use these technologies. For creative companies, artists and cultural organizations, Oonagh's message is refreshingly practical: understand who you are, who you serve and what you're trying to accomplish. Then decide whether AI actually helps you get there. Because responsible AI isn't just about what the technology can do. It's about what we decide it should do. Technically Creative is a technology podcast for people who don't necessarily think of themselves as tech people, exploring how AI and technology are changing film, television, advertising, publishing, arts, media and the creative industries. This episode of Technically Creative is sponsored by the Future of Life Institute.