AI Unleashed: Documentaries Resurrect the Departed, Raising Ethical Questions
The pervasive influence of AI has fully entered the documentary space, raising concerns about its evolving applications. While initially used ethically for identity protection in films like 'Welcome To Chechnya', generative AI is now increasingly employed in dubious ways, such as animating historical subjects or adding unnecessary visual clutter. This shift suggests a potential negative impact on the integrity of nonfiction filmmaking.
Artificial intelligence (AI) has reached a point of saturation, infiltrating various aspects of daily life, from small businesses relying on generative AI for generic menus and flyers, to its omnipresence in social media feeds and search results. This pervasive influence has now fully encroached upon the documentary filmmaking space, raising concerns about its increasingly dubious and questionable applications, which are predicted to mar at least a generation's worth of nonfiction movies.
One of the earliest significant applications of machine learning in a documentary was seen in David France’s 2020 film, 'Welcome To Chechnya'. In this groundbreaking instance, nascent AI technology was employed to safeguard the identities of queer individuals facing persecution from the region’s homophobic regime. The technology achieved this by seamlessly swapping out their faces with those of U.S. activists, offering a critical layer of protection for vulnerable subjects.
Since then, the capabilities of artificial intelligence have advanced significantly. However, filmmakers are no longer exclusively utilizing AI tools for the crucial purpose of subject safety. A growing trend involves the use of generative AI to manipulate historical footage, such as making deceased individuals appear to be in motion, or to indiscriminately fill frames with what is described as