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The British Film Institute has published a new report into AI and, with it, a number of recommendations.
“AI in the Screen Sector: Perspectives and Paths Forward,” published as part of the BFI’s role within the CoSTAR Foresight Lab and compiled by Angus Finney, Brian Tarran and Rishi Coupland, is aimed at providing not just an analyse of how the industry is using and experimenting with generative AI technologies, but setting out what it describes as a “roadmap of key recommendations.” These it says will support the “delivery of ethical, sustainable and inclusive AI integration across the sector.”
“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,” said Coupland, the BFI’s Director of Research & Innovation. “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.”
See the nine recommendations from the BFI below:
1 – Rights: Set the U.K. in a position as a world-leading IP licensing market
There is an urgent need to address copyright concerns surrounding generative AI. The current training paradigm – where AI models are developed using copyrighted material without permission – poses a direct threat to the economic foundations of the U.K. screen sector. A viable path forward is through licensing frameworks. For this market to be effective, new standards and technologies are required.
2 – Carbon: Embed data-driven guidelines to minimise carbon impact of AI
Generative AI models, particularly large-scale ones, demand significant computational resources, resulting in high energy consumption and associated carbon emissions. Yet the environmental footprint of AI is often obscured from end users in the creative industries. Transparency is a critical first step to addressing AI’s environmental impact.
3 – Responsible AI: Support cross-discipline collaboration to deliver market-preferred, ethical AI products
Generative AI tools must align with both industry needs and public values. Many models, tools and platforms have been developed without sufficient input from the screen sector (or, indeed, screen audiences), leading to functionality and outputs that are poorly suited to production workflows or that risk cultural homogenisation and ethical oversights. (Use of large language models trained predominantly on U.S. data may marginalise local narratives, for example.) Academics have called for ‘inclusive’ approaches to AI development, arguing that generative AI’s full potential can only be reached if creative professionals participate in its development.
4- Insight: Enable U.K. creative industry strategies through world-class intelligence
The U.K. has over 13,000 creative technology companies and a strong foundation in both AI research and creative production. However, across the U.K. screen sector, organisations, teams and individuals – especially SMEs and freelancers – lack access to structured intelligence on AI trends, risks, and opportunities. This absence of shared infrastructure for horizon scanning, knowledge exchange, and alignment limits the sector’s ability to respond cohesively to disruption. The BFI has proposed creating an ‘AI observatory’ and ‘tech demonstrator hub’ to address this urgent challenge, and the proposal has been endorsed by the House of Commons Culture, Media and Sport Committee as a way to centralise insights from academia, industry, and government, and provide hands-on experience of emerging tools and capabilities.
5 – Skills: Develop the sector to build skills complementary to AI
AI automation may, in time, lower demand for certain digital content creation skills. It may also create new opportunities for roles that require human oversight, creative direction, and technical fluency in AI systems. Our research identifies a critical shortfall in AI training provision: AI education in the U.K. screen sector is currently more ‘informal’ than ‘formal’, and many workers – particularly freelancers – lack access to resources that would support them to develop skills complementary to AI. However, the UK is well-positioned to lead in AI upskilling due to its strong base of AI research institutions, a globally respected creative workforce, and a blending of technology and storytelling expertise. By helping workers transition into AI-augmented roles, the U.K. can future-proof its creative workforce and maintain its competitive edge in the global screen economy.
6 – Public transparency: Drive increased public understanding of AI use in screen content
Transparency will drive audience trust in the age of generative AI. Surveys reveal that 86% of British respondents support clear disclosures when AI is used in media production, and this demand for transparency is echoed by screen sector stakeholders, who call for standards on content provenance and authenticity to counter the rise of AI-generated misinformation and ‘slop’.
7 – Sector adaptation: Boost the U.K.’s strong digital content production sector to adapt and grow
The U.K. boasts a unique convergence of creative excellence and technological innovation, with a track record of integrating emerging technologies into film, TV, and video game production. London is the world’s second largest hub (after Mumbai) for VFX professionals. Generative AI is already being used across the U.K. screen sector to drive efficiencies, stimulate creativity, and open new storytelling possibilities. However, surveys identify a lack of AI training and funding opportunities, while Parliamentary committees point to fragmented infrastructure and an absence of industry-wide standards that could hinder the continued growth and development of AI-supported creative innovation.
8 – Investment: Unlock investment to propel the U.K.’s high-potential creative technology sector
There is a compelling opportunity and a pressing need for targeted financial support for the U.K.’s creative technology sector. The House of Lords has identified a “technology scaleup problem” in the U.K., with limited access to growth capital, poor infrastructure, and a culture of risk aversion acting as barriers to expansion. A Coronation Challenge report on CreaTech points to “significant” funding gaps at secondary rounds of investment (Series B+ stages) which are “often filled by international investors … creating risks of IP and talent migration out of the UK”. The report also found that physical infrastructure is needed, stating that: “Those involved in CreaTech innovation can struggle to find space to demonstrate, and sell, their work.”
9 – Independent creation: Empower UK creatives to develop AI-supported independent creativity
Generative AI is lowering traditional barriers to entry in the U.K. screen sector – enabling individuals and small teams to realise ambitious creative visions without the need for large budgets or studio backing. By investing in accessible tools, training, and funding for independent creators, and developing market-preferred, ethical AI products, the U.K. can foster a more inclusive and dynamic creative economy where AI enhances, rather than replaces, human imagination.
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