The impact of AI on Edinburgh’s Festivals and the broader cultural sector, is the focus of a new publication released by Festivals Edinburgh, the body representing Edinburgh’s major festivals.
In AI and the Festivals, leading thinkers and academics share a variety of viewpoints on the thorny issues around AI and the arts.
Recognising that AI is already reshaping artistic creation, the collection of essays probes issues of trust and cultural value, and how festivals can take a leadership role in shaping “humane, responsible and creatively ambitious AI futures”.
The Edinburgh Festival, in partnership with University of Edinburgh and The Alan Turing Institute was showcasing AI art half a decade ago with The New Real: The Zizi Show, a virtual cabaret show, featuring a community of drag artists.
Professor Drew Hemment, who commissioned Zizi, offers five recommendations for the Festival to establish a stated set of shared values around AI and to have the ambition to commission work “that will travel, be cited, be remembered”.
"AI is not just something culture reacts to. Culture actively shapes what AI becomes,” says Hemment.
He adds: "Festivals can function as living laboratories; spaces where artists, technologists and audiences meet to explore what new technologies actually mean in lived, shared experience, not just in theory."
"AI Slop"
While generative tools are increasingly visible in areas such as marketing and content production, the report cautions against over‑reliance on automation where human judgement, interpretation and care are essential.
Dr Vaishak Belle [Bayes Centre] see the festivals as a place for "engagement and critical attention" to this fast-moving technology, but he sees limits to its use due to a key, creative flaw:
“it is best understood as a remix machine, not a creative mind, and that distinction matters for how the festivals engage with it…LLMs produce pastiche. They recombine patterns from their data. The term “AI slop” has entered common use because people recognise the texture of this output: plausible, robotic and strangely empty.”
This “engine of the mainstream”, as he describes it, also comes with an ecological cost given the “substantial energy” consumed by LLMs. There is also the “quieter cost” of less human input and interaction by over-reliance on the technology.
Trust
In a similar vein, Janette Roush [Brand USA] draws lessons from the experience of Broadway in the concluding contribution, warning that “AI could flatten cultural offerings to safe, recognizable choices, erasing the discovery that makes festivals vital” and suggesting that this should be of most concern to the Edinburgh Festivals.
A central theme of the publication is trust. As AI‑assisted and AI‑generated content becomes increasingly difficult to distinguish, audiences are seeking clarity about how work has been made, why AI has been used, and what its use signifies.
The publication argues that simplistic labels such as "AI‑generated" are no longer sufficient, urging festivals to adopt clearer, more nuanced language and provenance practices that support audience trust without constraining artistic freedom.
Need for Authenticity
Dr Caterina Moruzzi hones in on the need for authenticity, saying “festivals operate within a content supply chain where questions of origin and accountability matter to audiences as much as the final output.”
Citing the exhibition "Authenticity Unmasked: Unveiling AI-Driven Realities Through Art", which was part of the Edinburgh Fringe and the Edinburgh Art Festival 2025, she writes that audiences can engage with authenticity not just as a technical issue but "a complex cultural question".
Festivals could build reflective spaces into their programmes, treating AI as an opportunity to examine what communities value in art, performance, and cultural institutions
She also suggests the Festivals might do well to prepare “a shared protocol for responding to plausible but false media during festival periods”.
AI as utility
While AI‑generated art often attracts the most attention, the publication points to a potentially impactful opportunity with behind‑the‑scenes operations.
Used thoughtfully, AI can reduce administrative burden, improve scheduling and logistics, enhance accessibility and free up staff time for creative and strategic work.
Commenting on behalf of the festivals, James McVeigh added: "AI is increasingly part of how culture is made, promoted and found. The question is how festivals can help shape that future rather than simply respond to it."