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AI Resources for Nonfiction Filmmaking

These resources are compiled by the working group for the Nonfiction Core App AI Addendum Core App 3.1 (AI Integrated Questions).

Key Terms

  • Artificial Intelligence (AI): The science of making machines intelligent, so they can recognize patterns and learn to solve specific challenges or sets of challenges.
  • Machine Learning: A subfield of artificial intelligence that comprises techniques and methods to develop AI, by getting computer programs to do something without programming super-specific rules. In film, it can be used to automate some tasks like video editing or generating visual effects.
  • Generative AI (GenAI): A subfield of machine learning that can create (and edit) new content from text (or other) input, based on data the underlying models were trained on. Content can include text, images, videos, music, audio, code and more.
  • Models: A set of algorithms that work together to identify patterns, make predictions, or generate new content, using the datasets that it was originally trained in. AI models come in various types and sizes, each learning through distinct methods.
     

Articles about Notable Nonfiction Films Using GenAI

  • Welcome to Chechnya (dir. David France, 2020) [The New York Times]
  • Roadrunner (dir. Morgan Neville, 2021) [The New Yorker]
  • The Andy Warhol Diaries (dir. Andrew Rossi, 2022) [Wired]
  • Another Body (dir. Sophie Compton, Reuben Hamlyn, 2023) [Variety]
  • Endurance (Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi, Jimmy Chin, Natalie Hewit, 2024) [The Hollywood Reporter]
     

Resources for Using GenAI in Nonfiction Production

Examples of Standards:

From the Archival Producers Alliance (APA):

BBC Standards for AI Transparency

PBS Standards for GenAI

Legal Case Tracker:

Database of AI Litigation (DAIL)
 

Further Reading