Alliance for Culture & AI Consensus — Vienna Culture and AI are not enemies.
Culture and AI are not enemies.
They are two forces that have not yet learned to negotiate.
ACAIC is the public, multi-stakeholder platform where that negotiation happens — through a consensus forum, a production studio, and a global olympiad.
Context
The fault line
In Summer 2026, the EU signed a joint declaration on Culture. In the same season, AI-generated work was banned from some fairs and defended at others. Rightsholders across Europe said the AI Act's implementation had fallen short of protecting creative labour. Protests, scandals, and public clashes followed.
The tension is no longer theoretical. It is regulatory, economic, and deeply personal.
And the current conversation offers only two options: take a side, or stay silent.
We are building a third option.
THREE PILLARS
One platform. Three ways to build consensus.
One platform. Three ways to build consensus.
01 / FORUM
The room where consensus is built
We collect voices from cultural figures, AI developers, researchers, and institutions.
We identify where positions genuinely conflict, where they merely use different vocabularies, and where common ground already exists.
Then we consolidate them into shared positions — legal, professional, and ethical — that speak on behalf of a coalition, not a faction.
We identify where positions genuinely conflict, where they merely use different vocabularies, and where common ground already exists.
Then we consolidate them into shared positions — legal, professional, and ethical — that speak on behalf of a coalition, not a faction.
WEB PLATFORM
Digest, opinion, artistic research, polls. The ultimate source of information — and a place to be heard.
EVENTS
Class.Next, book fairs, art fairs, tech fests, and our own annual summit.
CONSENSUS PROCESS
Collect → translate → consolidate → lobby.
OUTPUTS
Legal frameworks, industry standards, practices, public representation.
Digest, opinion, artistic research, polls. The ultimate source of information — and a place to be heard.
EVENTS
Class.Next, book fairs, art fairs, tech fests, and our own annual summit.
CONSENSUS PROCESS
Collect → translate → consolidate → lobby.
OUTPUTS
Legal frameworks, industry standards, practices, public representation.
02 / STUDIO
Where Culture and AI produce tangible products
A repeatable production model.
A location that hosts.
Values that fund.
Teams that create.
Technology that enables.
Together they produce a site-specific cultural product — artistically strong, meaningful, and profitable. Value is shared. Artists, location, and production team split the profit. No extraction, no appropriation, no reduction of culture to content.
A location that hosts.
Values that fund.
Teams that create.
Technology that enables.
Together they produce a site-specific cultural product — artistically strong, meaningful, and profitable. Value is shared. Artists, location, and production team split the profit. No extraction, no appropriation, no reduction of culture to content.
OPEN CALL
Artists and locations curated into a values-aligned selection.
PRODUCTION
Cultural teams, mentors, and a tech solution.
PROFIT SPLIT
Artists / Location / Production team.
OUTPUT
A CultTech product: artistically good, meaningful, and profitable.
Artists and locations curated into a values-aligned selection.
PRODUCTION
Cultural teams, mentors, and a tech solution.
PROFIT SPLIT
Artists / Location / Production team.
OUTPUT
A CultTech product: artistically good, meaningful, and profitable.
03 / OLYMPIAD
A new global mindset for responsible AI
Culture by AI — CxAI — is an intercollegiate contest that sets the global standard for responsible AI use in culture-related cases. Two tracks, one destination.
TRACK ONE
Solve complex, open-ended creative tasks at home.
TRACK TWO
Train, compete regionally, climb to global finals. Olympiad-style tasks drawn from everyday life.
WHO TAKES PART
Universities, interdisciplinary student teams, experts, tech companies, UNESCO and cultural partners.
WHAT IT BUILDS
A generation that treats AI as a tool for culture, not a replacement for it.
Solve complex, open-ended creative tasks at home.
TRACK TWO
Train, compete regionally, climb to global finals. Olympiad-style tasks drawn from everyday life.
WHO TAKES PART
Universities, interdisciplinary student teams, experts, tech companies, UNESCO and cultural partners.
WHAT IT BUILDS
A generation that treats AI as a tool for culture, not a replacement for it.
GET INVOLVED
Where you fit
Where you fit
Cultural actors and institutions
Bring your voice into the consensus. Contribute to the digest, join a poll, submit artistic research, or host an ACAIC event.
Contribute →
Bring your voice into the consensus. Contribute to the digest, join a poll, submit artistic research, or host an ACAIC event.
Contribute →
AI developers and tech companies
Build with culture, not over it. Sponsor an event, provide a tech solution for a Studio production, or set a challenge for the Olympiad.
Partner with us →
Build with culture, not over it. Sponsor an event, provide a tech solution for a Studio production, or set a challenge for the Olympiad.
Partner with us →
Universities and students
Enter CxAI. Train, compete, and help define what responsible AI looks like in culture.
Join the Olympiad →
Enter CxAI. Train, compete, and help define what responsible AI looks like in culture.
Join the Olympiad →
Origin
We are the people who made CultTech
CultTech built ecosystem for startups in culture, production workflows, and a community of artists, technologists, investors, researchers, and educators.
We now reorganize to address the most pressing issue of our time — Culture × AI coexistence — and to turn a private initiative into a public, multi-stakeholder platform.
We now reorganize to address the most pressing issue of our time — Culture × AI coexistence — and to turn a private initiative into a public, multi-stakeholder platform.
Vienna is where Europe has historically negotiated the terms of coexistence.
ACAIC continues that tradition — not as a metaphor, but as a working method.
ACAIC continues that tradition — not as a metaphor, but as a working method.
LATEST
From the Alliance
From the Alliance
Consensus Forum
Open discussion at AI:AT First roundtable held with cultural institutions and AI developers in Vienna.
Read the notes →
Open discussion at AI:AT First roundtable held with cultural institutions and AI developers in Vienna.
Read the notes →
Consensus Forum
Open discussion at AI:AT First roundtable held with cultural institutions and AI developers in Vienna.
Read the notes →
Open discussion at AI:AT First roundtable held with cultural institutions and AI developers in Vienna.
Read the notes →
Consensus Forum
Open discussion at AI:AT First roundtable held with cultural institutions and AI developers in Vienna.
Read the notes →
Open discussion at AI:AT First roundtable held with cultural institutions and AI developers in Vienna.
Read the notes →
The conversation has two sides.
We are building the third.
We are building the third.
Join the Alliance for Culture and AI Consensus.