The Directors Guild of Canada has opposed the use of AI because it does not recognize and protect the rights of content creators.
“Creative work is not just a product designed to fill a platform, an algorithmic feed, or attract attention before disappearing into an endless digital stream,” the DGC said in a statement about the value of human creativity issued during the Banff World Media Festival, where Canadian content producers, politicians, funders and regulators discuss the future of the country’s media sectors in the age of artificial intelligence.
The guild said its membership, which includes directors, editors, craftsmen and other key people in the film and television industry, helps shape audiences’ vision and experience of work.
“But efficiency is not creativity. Automation is not collaboration. Prediction is not fantasy. AI systems are trained on what already exists. Human creativity imagines what does not exist. Creative decisions are shaped not only by data, but also by empathy, moral judgment, life experience, and creative instinct. Creative works are important because they are shaped by imperfect, contradictory, emotional, living people. Humanity is not a flaw in the creative process. That is the point,” the DG statement stressed.
Canadian film and television producers are increasingly adopting artificial intelligence in their production lines to save cost and time, even as they express concerns about job losses and intellectual property theft. The DGC insisted that the challenges of AI extend beyond the economy and jobs to include questions of authorship, artistic expression and the future of storytelling.
“We therefore affirm that the rights of every creative worker, including consent, assignment and control over their work, must be recognized and protected. No member of this union should discover that their role or work has been handed over to a machine after the fact,” the union said. DGC insisted that art is not just “content,” but an expression of human experience that is not designed to serve algorithms and engage audiences alone.
“Technology must remain in the service of humanity, not the other way around. Human creativity is not a lack of competence that can be improved upon. “Storytelling is one of humanity’s oldest and most powerful forms of expression, and we must ensure that the people who create works of art continue to shape the future,” Warren P. Sonoda, DGC’s national president, added in a statement.
The Banff World Media Festival runs through Wednesday.
