Abstract
Artificial intelligence (AI) and large language models (LLMs) are transforming media production. The internet re-organised distribution of screen content now AI is disrupting production processes. Documentary filmmaking and the convergence of AI-driven automation and deep generative techniques is reconfiguring how documentary narratives are constructed and perceived. Authenticity, authorship, ethics and reception are intersecting with unprecedented technological capabilities. The paper explores AI and deepfake technologies in documentary practice focusing on the negotiation between creative potential, ethical responsibility and transparency. Tensions between technological innovation and documentary’s foundational commitment to representing the real means AI technologies, while offering powerful tools for re-enactment, archival reconstruction, and language translation, also challenge audience trust (Lees, 2023; Lu, 2025). The discussion proposes urgent re-thinking is required in approaching critical, ethical and regulatory frameworks that can guide the use of AI in documentary contexts. From algorithmic transparency to audience disclosure practices, there is growing consensus that innovation must be underpinned by professional standards driven by transparency. As AI technologies outpace existing legal and ethical codes, documentary filmmaking and its reception must proactively establish new norms that continue to safeguard against misinformation, creative dilution and exploitation. Providing a timely intervention into the growing discourse on AI in nonfiction storytelling the presentation argues that negotiating deepfakes and AI in contemporary documentary requires balancing creative affordances of new technologies and upholding the epistemological commitments that distinguish documentary as a truth-claiming genre. Lees, D. (2023). Studies in Documentary Film, 18(2), 108–129. Lu, Z., (2025). Journal of Artificial Intelligence Practice, 8(2), 2025) 88-92.
Presenters
Sean MaherAssociate Professor, School of Creative Arts, Queensland University of Technology, Queensland, Australia
Details
Presentation Type
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session
Theme
KEYWORDS
Documentary, AI, Large Language Models, Disrupted Media Production
