AUTHOR=Frost Sophie , Vargas Lauren 

TITLE=Cultural work, wellbeing, and AI

JOURNAL=European Journal of Cultural Management and Policy

VOLUME=Volume 14 - 2024

YEAR=2024

URL=https://www.frontierspartnerships.org/journals/european-journal-of-cultural-management-and-policy/articles/10.3389/ejcmp.2024.12825

DOI=10.3389/ejcmp.2024.12825

ISSN=2663-5771

ABSTRACT=In museums, heritage, and non-profit cultural organisations, thought leadership on the ethical implications of AI is gathering speed. As yet however, little attention has been given to how AI is emotionally impacting lived experiences of cultural workers as organisations seek to operationalise it. This paper highlights the need to consider such impacts. Using a strategic foresight method known as the “Futures Triangle” (Inayatullah, 2023), it considers the plausible future of AI-driven cultural work that might emerge between three pushing and pulling corners – the past, the present, and the future – each of which is shaping the adoption of AI. First, it considers how digital transformation and decolonisation initiatives constitute key trends which have affected – and continue to affect – the integration of AI in cultural workplaces. Second, it presents the main drivers shaping cultural work and employee wellbeing in the era of AI: job displacement, increased demand for AI literacy and skills, misinformation and bias, the ongoing emotional toll of digital work, and new challenges to cultural expertise. Finally, it draws on these trends and drivers to explore what signals are paving the direction of cultural work, placing emphasis on the need for greater strategic “coopetition”, agility in the development of AI skills, acknowledgement of implicit power dynamics, the prioritisation of the emotional and psychological impacts of digital work and, finally, using our role as cultural custodians to lead a global conversation on Responsible AI in relation to cultural work.