top of page

Generative AI Inititiative

 “As documentary filmmakers who depend on the integrity of historical archives, and as mentors to younger filmmakers grappling with the threat–and the potential–that generative AI presents to their work, we are grateful for these guidelines. We are especially heartened by the attention given to algorithmic bias, which threatens to re-write the past and foreclose on possible futures when it comes to the representation of people of color.” – Stanley Nelson and Marcia Smith, Co-Founders of Firelight Media and Firelight Films

Generative AI (GenAI) is rapidly transforming the media ecosystem and the world at large, reshaping our culture and our conversations. While there is great potential in this technology, there are also risks. The survival of the documentary industry, in all of its power and promise to help us understand and interpret our history and our present, is contingent on maintaining a truthful and transparent relationship with viewers.


Committed to this ideal, the Archival Producers Alliance set as our first task to develop guidelines in the responsible use of this revolutionary technology. We are offering them as an free resource to the documentary community in hopes that it will help filmmakers who are using, or considering using, GenAI in their work to ground their decisions in the values the documentary community has long held.

Endorsed by:

AF_Logo_FINAL_BLACK - Justine Nagan.png
ade_logo_for_ida_edited.png
adoc_whiteonred - Lailanie Gadia.jpg
amdoc-logo-2018 - Robert Y. Chang.jpg
BAVC Logo.png
BIPOC_Black_Transparent_Colour - Kadon Douglas.png
BSFI-vert-logo - Julia.png
Bread & Butter logo.png
BSO_colour-1 - Joan Jenkinson.png
Catapult Film Fund Logo.png
Citizen Film_cropped-CF-Logo_black_nobg_Square-copy.png
Cinema Eye.jpg
ClearLogo7000 - info_clearassociation.org.jpg
DAWG+logo_no+background.png
dc-dox-logo - Sky Sitney.png
Desktop-Documentaries-logo - Faith Fuller.png
DGC-National_Bilingual_V1 - Sam Bischoff.png
DIFF_VERT - James Faust.png
Doc org of Canada.png
d-wordlogo-square1024.png
Exposure+Labs+-+Centered+-+Bright+Blue.png
Filmaid_Logo.png
Firelight Logo-USE.png
GIAA.jpeg
Focal-logo - FOCAL International.jpg
GIWLogo_Horizontal_Bold_wColorAccent_GIW Updated_cc3300 RGB - Jessica Bogdan.jpg
IMPACT PARTNERS-NEW.jpg
ida_primarylockup_white.jpg
Jaszi Butler Logo.png
LEF_LOGO_transparent - Matthew LaPaglia.png
LWMlogo_v01Web.jpg
LrosenLtd Logo - Louise Rosen.png
Kartemquin Logo (3) - Betsy Leonard.jpg
macrofilm-logo-black-tightcrop.png
marketRoad_logo4july copy - Tony Gerber.jpg
mercury_logo_07_colour - Neve Dickson.jpg
Moxie-logo-white-2022.png
OVF LOGO LOCKUPS_BLACK_TEXT_COLOR PEACOCK_NO_WHITE_OUTLINE[29] - nell augustin.png
Partner Pictures Logo.jpg
PNI_Logotype_black - Zaina Bseiso.png
saltylogo_final-01 - Yael Melamede.jpg
Sebastopol.png
Storm Stock.png
TF_LOGO (1) - Chloé Trayner.png
twn-logo-Full color.png
UFVA logo - Wenhwa Tsao.jpeg
VC_Logo Text_Transparent_black.png
VRSC_ARAC_logo_NoBkg - Laura Lucas.png
Willa Logo.png
ZPZLogoMed.png

Filmmaker Endorsements

Jennifer Baichwal

Mark Bailey

Sam Ball

Amina Bayou

Richard Berge

Ken Burns

Sarah Burns

Jason Cohn

Janet Cole

Rocky Collins

Lisa Cortés

Sophie Compton

Sophie Constantinou

Jon Else

Rob Epstein

Ina Fichman

Jeffrey Friedman

Tony Gerber

Abby Ginzberg

John Haptas

Chris Hegedus

Gretchen Hildebran

Nancy Kates

Rory Kennedy

Elizabeth Klinck

Mary Kerr

Susan Lazarus

Jim LeBrecht

Ursula Liang

Martin Lisius

Maida Lynn

David McMahon

Michael Moore

Stefano Morello

Stanley Nelson

Pete Nicks

Natasha Dack Ojumu

Nick de Pencier

Kellen Quinn

Andrew Rossi

James Rutenbeck

Kristine Samuelson

Veronica Selver

Camille Servan-Schreiber

Alyse Shorland

Marcia Smith

Martin Smith

Paul Stekler​

Kate Stilley

Brett Story

Renee Tajima-Peña

Rick Tejada-Flores

Jean Tsien

Matt Wolf

Sharon Wood

Membership of the Archival Producers Alliance

Launch Support Provided by

​The Jonathan Logan Family Foundation–empowering world-changing work.

bottom of page