A new report published by the BFI, ‘AI in the Screen Sector: Perspectives and Paths Forward’, analyses how the screen sector is using and experimenting with generative artificial intelligence (AI) technologies – and sets out a roadmap of key recommendations to support the delivery of ethical, sustainable, and inclusive AI integration.
The report is published by the BFI as part of its role within the CoSTAR Foresight Lab – CoSTAR is the UK’s Creative R&D network – in partnership with CoSTAR universities, Goldsmiths, Loughborough and Edinburgh.
It will enable the UK to capitalise on its creative strengths – by enabling independent companies to scale-up and compete globally. Generative AI will democratise and revolutionise screen content creation, the BFI says, and this could empower a new wave of British creators to produce high-quality content with modest resources, though concerns about copyright and ethical use remain significant barriers to full adoption.
The BBC is piloting structured AI initiatives, while BFI National Archive and BBFC are experimenting with AI for subtitling, metadata generation, and content classification, enhancing accessibility and operational efficiency.
The report’s recommendations include:
1 – Rights: Set the UK in a position as a world-leading IP licensing market
2 – Carbon: Embed data-driven guidelines to minimise carbon impact of AI
3 – Responsible AI: Support cross-discipline collaboration to deliver market-preferred, ethical AI
products
4 – Insight: Enable UK creative industry strategies through world-class intelligence
5 – Skills: Develop the sector to build skills complementary to AI
6 – Public transparency: Drive increased public understanding of AI use in screen content
7 – Sector adaptation: Boost the UK’s strong digital content production sector to adapt and grow
8 – Investment: Unlock investment to propel the UK’s high-potential creative technology sector
9 – Independent creation: Empower UK creatives to develop AI-supported independent creativity
Rishi Coupland, the BFI’s Director of Research & Innovation said: “AI has long been an established part of the screen sector’s creative toolkit, most recently seen in the post-production of the Oscar-winning The Brutalist, and its rapid advancement is attracting multi-million investments in technology innovator applications. However, our report comes at a critical time and shows how generative AI presents an inflection point for the sector and, as a sector, we need to act quickly on a number of key strategic fronts.
“Whilst it offers significant opportunities for the screen sector such as speeding up production workflows, democratising content creation and empowering new voices, it could also erode traditional business models, displace skilled workers, and undermine public trust in screen content. The report’s recommendations provide a roadmap to how we can ensure that the UK’s world-leading film, TV, video games and VFX industries continue to thrive by making best use of AI technologies to bring their creativity, innovations and storytelling to screens around the globe.”
