Shaping AI before it shapes society

A teenager scrolling through social media today can encounter a deepfake political speech, an AI-generated song, a fabricated news story and a digitally restored Beatles recording—all within a matter of minutes. Artificial intelligence has already transformed society. The challenge now is to equip citizens, especially young people, with skills to navigate this new reality while preserving the values that define our democracies and cultures.

AI is reshaping the way we learn, create, communicate and participate in public life. In education, it offers unprecedented opportunities for personalised learning and access to knowledge. In culture, it is opening new possibilities for artistic expression, heritage preservation and creative collaboration. Yet these opportunities are accompanied by serious risks.

For the European People’s Party (EPP), this is not simply a debate about technology. It is a debate about democracy, education, culture and Europe’s future competitiveness.

As AI-generated content becomes increasingly present in our daily lives, transparency becomes essential. Citizens should be able to understand when and how artificial intelligence has been used to create text, images, audio recordings or video. Trust in the digital age depends not only on innovation but also on clarity and accountability.

AI is transforming culture in ways that would have seemed unimaginable only a few years ago. The use of AI technology to restore John Lennon’s voice and allow The Beatles to complete the song Now And Then, demonstrated how technology can enhance human creativity rather than replace it.

But AI also raises fundamental questions about authenticity. More than eight in 10 Europeans say they prefer content created by humans rather than by AI. They understand that culture is not simply content production. It is expression, identity and human connection.

As Pope Leo XIV notes in his recent encyclical Magnifica Humanitas, artificial intelligence is neither neutral in its development nor in its impact. The choices made by developers, businesses, policymakers and users all influence how these technologies shape our societies, economies and democracies. This is why Europe’s approach must be guided by the principle that innovation and responsibility must advance together.

The EPP Group believes Europe must embrace AI as a tool for progress while ensuring that human creativity, democratic values and cultural diversity remain at its core. While Europe has already taken important regulatory steps, legislation alone is not enough.

The current legislative framework was not designed to address all the specific characteristics of the cultural and creative sectors. The AI strategy for the cultural and creative sectors, which the European Commission is expected to launch in early 2027 as part of the European Cultural Compass, should therefore be ambitious, comprehensive and attentive to citizens’ concerns.

Generative AI systems rely heavily on cultural and creative works, yet creators often lack transparency regarding how their work is used and whether they are fairly remunerated when value is generated from it. At the same time, recommendation algorithms increasingly determine what people see, hear and discover online.

If these systems favour scale and commercially predictable outputs, we risk marginalising independent creators, minority languages and the cultural diversity that lies at the heart of Europe’s identity.

Education must therefore become our first line of defence and our greatest opportunity.

Digital literacy, media literacy and AI literacy should be considered essential skills for the 21st century. Young Europeans must learn not only how to use AI tools, but also how to understand their limitations, critically assess information and recognise manipulation when they encounter it. At the same time, creators, cultural organisations and educational institutions must be supported in adapting to a rapidly changing digital environment.

AI capabilities are evolving faster than our institutions, educational systems, and cultural policies can adapt. At a time of growing geopolitical competition and increasing polarisation, Europe must invest in the skills, creativity and resilience of its people.

The future will not be decided by algorithms alone. It will be decided by the values we embed in them and the citizens we empower through education. If we get this right, AI will not diminish our humanity. It will help us express it more fully than ever before.