Documentary Producers Lay Out New AI Guidelines for Film-Makers

(TheConservativeTimes.org) – The Hollywood strikes have put a spotlight on artificial intelligence and how it can affect the film industry. Film-makers have found themselves trying to figure out how to use artificial intelligence ethically in the industry, if at all.

Documentary film-makers have faced concerns over “fake archival” material like AI-generated voices, videos, or photos. A group of documentary producers have published a set of ethical guidelines to help film producers, studios, streamers, and broadcasters to address questions that have been brought up about the use of the technology.

The Archival Producers Alliance, or the APA, is a volunteer group of more than three hundred documentary producers and researchers. They developed these guidelines over the course of a year and published an open letter in the Hollywood Reporter to demand more safeguards in the industry.

Stephanie Jenkins, APA’s co-director, said “In a world where it is becoming difficult to distinguish between a real photograph and a generated one, we believe it’s absolutely pivotal to understand the ways generative AI could impact nonfiction storytelling.”

Many documentary film organizations have endorsed the guidelines. The executive director of the IDA, Dominic Willsdon, said, “Documentary is a truth-seeking art practice, but the nature of truth has always been mutable.”

The group doesn’t want to reject the use of generative AI altogether, but they hope to encourage consideration based on transparency, ethics, equality, and the value of primary sources.

”While there are great creative possibilities for this technology, without consideration of its potential risks, artificial content entering documentaries could permanently erode the trust between film-maker and audience, and muddy the historical record,” said APA co-director Rachel Antell.

The guidelines have been created to follow a number of concerns that rely around AI in documentaries, and they hope to stress transparency in the industry when using generative artificial intelligence.