Creative Disruption: The impact of emerging technologies on the creative economy

This paper presents the findings of a joint project, conducted by the World Economic Forum and McKinsey & Company, which studied the impact of emerging technologies – artificial intelligence, augmented reality, virtual reality and blockchain – on the creative economy. The project team conducted more than 50 interviews with experts from Asia, Europe and North America, as well as three workshops in China and the United States with World Economic Forum constituents. Given the varying maturity of the different technologies, it is too early to definitively state how they will change the creative economy. This paper outlines opportunities and concerns for each technology and presents suggestions for where attention could be concentrated if the benefits are to be realized.