Created Futures Research · CR-2026-01 · November 2026
How AI, access and industry demand are reshaping creative-tech careers, and what a national skills pipeline for under-represented young people should look like.
By Rob Pepper. Supported by the Hg Foundation. Drawn from more than 25 in-depth expert interviews, survey data and desk research.
“If creativity loses institutional support while AI education accelerates, are we building capability without imagination?”
Rob Pepper, from the foreword
£145.8bn
creative industries GVA in 2024, 5.5% of the UK economy
60.3%
real growth since 2010, against 24.3% for the UK economy
28%
of creative workers are self-employed, twice the UK rate of 14%
51.7%
of creative GVA is made in London, with a further 16.1% in the South East
Source: DCMS Economic Estimates (Annual GVA 2024, provisional; Regional GVA 2023; Employment, April 2024 to March 2025).
Four headline insights
01
Creative-tech roles now span virtual production, VFX, game design, XR, digital fashion and AI-assisted content. Employers want “50–50 brain” talent: creative intuition, technical fluency and commercial sense together. Most training is still siloed.
How we are responding
Our courses and tools put making and business side by side: artists learn their craft and, on the same platform, price, show and sell their work.
02
Generative tools automate routine tasks and create new roles, but demand judgement on ethics, IP and human oversight. Up to half of tasks in many creative workflows are likely to be augmented rather than replaced.
How we are responding
We are AI-native in how we build, and use AI to give feedback where it helps, such as bowling analysis, while people own their work and choose when AI is used.
03
Under-represented groups face economic, geographic, cultural and structural barriers: the cost of equipment and unpaid internships, London-centric clusters, network hiring and fragmented pathways.
How we are responding
Online first and priced for each country, with a free course for young people, Create Your Future, and schools able to take part under proper safeguarding.
04
The best opportunities sit where growth and skills shortages overlap: virtual production and VFX, gaming and immersive media, digital design and fashion technology. Employer-designed curricula, wrap-around support and modular training improve outcomes.
How we are responding
We are starting with a focused pilot rather than a large institution, and working with the Hg Foundation on what comes next.
The blueprint
Hybrid, modular and AI-supported learning, with employer-set briefs and stackable micro-credentials.
Ages 11 to 18
School workshops, creative tech clubs and online resources.
Ages 18 to 25
Courses blending art, design, coding and production, with bursaries and mentors.
21 and over
Micro-credentials and part-time programmes for reskilling and progression.
For life
Graduates return as mentors and collaborators.
This is landscape and scoping research, not a funding plan. Cost, employer commitment and where a new offer is genuinely additive are open questions our ongoing research will answer.
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