Sundance spotlights nearly 200 AI terms for film and TV creators

Sundance Collab has put the growing language of AI filmmaking under the spotlight, exploring a new industry resource designed to help creators understand exactly what rapidly changing production technology actually does. The online session on September 30 focused on work from the Creators Coalition on AI, known as CCAI.

The coalition has created nearly 200 definitions covering AI use across film, television and digital content. These include areas such as AI-generated video, digital performances, automated editing, face replacement, sound generation and AI-created camera coverage.

The idea is relatively simple. As more AI tools enter production, companies and creators can sometimes use the same words to describe very different processes, making it harder to understand how much of a piece of work was generated, assisted or changed by AI.

CCAI wants to create a shared vocabulary that filmmakers, artists and production workers can use when discussing the technology. Its glossary has been developed with more than 60 people working across film, television and content creation and is intended to continue changing as the technology develops.

The project goes further than definitions alone. CCAI has also mapped more than 60 AI technologies against over 150 entertainment roles, looking at how individual tools could change the work of editors, performers, cinematographers, visual effects artists and other production professionals.

A third resource allows people working in those roles to challenge or add to the findings based on their own experience. That means the framework is designed as an evolving industry resource rather than a fixed set of rules telling creators whether they should or should not use AI.

Sundance Collab explored the project with CCAI representatives as part of its continuing series looking at artificial intelligence and creative work. Sundance says a recording of the session will also be added to its Event Recording Library.

For filmmakers trying to keep track of new AI terminology, the resources are already available through CCAI. As production technology develops increasingly quickly, simply understanding what each new tool actually does may become an important part of deciding whether it belongs in a creative workflow.