The impact of AI on CCI: “The connection with human will be most valuable”

LUCA MORENA, CEO OF NEXTATLAS, AN ekip PARTNER - PHOTO BY LOREM IPSUM

AI as opportunity, disruption, and democratization

AI affects cultural and creative industries in many ways not only economically, but also in personal growth, identity, and creative expression. At the same time, perceptions of AI vary widely: it is seen as a disruptor, a potential threat, and an unprecedented opportunity.

As AI tools become more accessible, they lower entry barriers to creative work. Individuals can now engage in creative practices without long learning curves, opening new avenues for expression and participation. This democratization of creativity is one of AI’s most visible benefits.

“There is a lot of space for new art and new styles. Every day, new applications explore creative ways of doing things. We have entered a different kind of interface,” says Luca Morena, CEO of Nextatlas and an ekip partner.

Yet this shift also blurs the line between amateurs and experts, raising questions about the long-term value of traditional skills.

When efficiency replaces struggle

While AI enables people with limited technical skills to produce advanced outputs, it also risks making learned skills obsolete.

“And it has just begun. You have no idea what kind of talent society will need in one, two, or five years,” says Luca Morena.

This evolution introduces deeper psychological questions about learning, effort, and identity in creative processes.

The loss of struggle and its consequences

One of the most profound impacts of AI on creativity is the potential loss of struggle a core element of human learning and self-development.

“What you lose is the struggle of doing and achieving something. The process where you build yourself. Humanity has a history of iterations, failures, and frustrations. It starts with an idea, then failure, then struggle and suddenly it works,” explains Luca Morena.

Struggle fuels curiosity and growth. While convenience is natural, removing friction entirely risks flattening human development and reducing resilience, perseverance, and depth of learning.

Cultural heritage in an AI-generated world

AI also plays a growing role in preserving and reinterpreting cultural heritage from reconstructing ancient environments to decoding historical texts.

However, a critical question emerges: who defines cultural heritage when content can be autonomously generated by machines?

“It has never happened before that there is such a disconnection between how humans create culture and culture created autonomously. We need to be able to distinguish what is AI-generated,” says Luca Morena.

Transparency and authorship will be essential to maintaining cultural meaning and trust.

Human creativity as future luxury

As AI-generated content becomes ubiquitous, human creativity may gain new value not through output alone, but through process, authorship, and authenticity.

“The threshold will be redefined. We will find new struggles. After the excitement of automation, we will long for pre-AI experiences things deeply connected to humans without automated mediation. That will be luxury in the future,” Luca Morena explains.

In this future, society may value artists, processes, and curation over mass-produced content. Human presence, imperfection, and intention become markers of quality.

“Our society will be less interested in products and more interested in the artist, the person, and the process. The connection with the human will be most valuable.”