AI + CREATIVE INDUSTRIES - 2027/8

Module Overview

This module introduces students from any disciplinary background to the use of AI in creative practice. Drawing on Surrey's strengths in creative AI research and its partnerships across the UK creative-tech ecosystem, the module explores how AI is reshaping creative production across multiple media. It is designed to be accessible to students from creative, technical, humanities, or unrelated disciplinary backgrounds, and assumes no specialist technical preparation.

Module provider

Computer Science and Electronic Eng

Module Leader

SONG Yi-Zhe (CS & EE)

Number of Credits: 15

ECTS Credits: 7.5

Framework: FHEQ Level 7

Module cap (Maximum number of students): N/A

Module Availability

Semester 2

Prerequisites / Co-requisites

None

Module content

Indicative themes include: the current landscape of AI in creative practice across media; how AI tools are used in creative workflows; the rights, ethical, and labour implications of AI-generated content; case studies from Surrey research partners and the UK creative industries. Specific topic mix and tool selection to be developed by the module lead in consultation with the programme team ahead of first delivery, reflecting the fast-moving nature of the field.

Assessment pattern

Alternative Assessment

None

Assessment Strategy

The assessment strategy is designed to provide students with the opportunity to demonstrate subject-specific knowledge and how this knowledge can be applied in the design of AI solutions to real world problems.
Thus, the summative assessment for this module consists of:

• Creative AI coursework (address learning outcomes 1-5)

• Invigilated Examination (address learning outcomes 1-3)

The coursework assignment is designed to allow students to demonstrate their strength and capabilities in demonstration of the application of knowledge to a proposed creative solution with a variety of different resources and tools. The invigilated exam format is designed to allow students to demonstrate their independent strength and capabilities in demonstrating embedded knowledge, application of knowledge and critical comment on proposed solutions, including the rights, ethical, and economic dimensions of AI in creative work.
Formative assessment and feedback:
This is provided via feedback gained from the problem classes which take place during scheduled lecture sessions, which can be used to prepare for the summative assessment.

Module aims

• Equip students to engage with AI tools in creative production workflows.
• Develop critical understanding of how AI is reshaping creative practice across media.
• Address the rights, ethics, and economic implications of AI in creative work.
• Connect students to Surrey's creative-AI research community and the wider UK creative-tech ecosystem.

Learning outcomes

Methods of Teaching / Learning

Lectures introduce concepts and current practice. Laboratory sessions provide hands-on experience with appropriate creative-AI tools. Captured content and guided learning support extension and revision. Independent study consolidates understanding. The module is taught at a level accessible to students with no prior creative or AI specialism. Industry contributions from Surrey's creative-AI partners ground learning in current professional practice.

Indicated Lecture Hours (which may also include seminars, tutorials, workshops and other contact time) are approximate and may include in-class tests where one or more of these are an assessment on the module. In-class tests are scheduled/organised separately to taught content and will be published on to student personal timetables, where they apply to taken modules, as soon as they are finalised by central administration. This will usually be after the initial publication of the teaching timetable for the relevant semester.

Reading list

https://readinglists.surrey.ac.uk
Upon accessing the reading list, please search for the module using the module code: EEEM089

Other information

At programme level the five pillars are developed cumulatively rather than in any single module: the Semester 1 core modules establish the foundations, the AI+X electives apply and deepen them within a chosen domain, and the dissertation consolidates them through independent work. As an AI+X elective, AI + Creative Industries builds directly on the core foundations, applying and extending them in a creative-practice setting. It contributes most strongly in the
following areas:
Digital Capabilities:
Laboratory sessions give students hands-on experience with current creative-AI tools, and the coursework rewards considered creative and analytical output produced with those tools, building confident and critical digital practice.
Global and Cultural Capabilities:
The module engages directly with the rights, ethical, labour and economic implications of AI-generated content and with creative production across multiple media and cultures, developing students' ability to situate AI creative practice within its wider cultural context ¿ themes assessed in both coursework and examination.
Resourcefulness and Resilience:
Accessible to students with no prior creative or AI specialism, the module builds adaptability in a fast-moving field, equipping students through hands-on tool work to engage resourcefully with new tools and to navigate the disruption AI brings to creative work.

Please note that the information detailed within this record is accurate at the time of publishing and may be subject to change. This record contains information for the most up to date version of the programme / module for the 2027/8 academic year.