Future-Proofing Creativity: Responding to AI’s Game-Changing Impact
Now is not the time to be passive with our choices around how AI can impact storytelling and the industry behind it. From creators actively using AI for their productions to guild and union leaders, members of the creative industry are speaking up about the need to make choices in response to AI's impact.
“Artificial intelligence is one of the most impactful technological transformations of our age – while it offers many potential benefits, it is also important to ensure that the marketplace for creative works continues to be fair and well-functioning, including in the context of protecting the rights of creators through Canada's copyright framework” shares Gabrielle Dallaporta, Director of Strategic Policy, Planning and Research for Cultural Affairs, Canadian Heritage at the Government of Canada.
Responding with Legislation and Guidelines
What content is fair game for AI tools to train on? The CEO of Microsoft AI, Mustafa Suleyman, recently stated "I think that with respect to content that is already on the open web, the social contract of that content since the 90's has been that it is fair use. Anyone can copy it, recreate with it, reproduce with it.”
Neal McDougall, Assistant Executive Director at Writers Guild of Canada, calls on the government to “reject calls from AI companies to introduce exceptions to copyright for the use of works to train AI. Training AI is not “fair dealing.” Creators want the “Three C’s” when it comes to using their work to train AI: consent to its use in the first place, and compensation and credit if they choose to provide that consent.”
DGC President Warren Sonoda feels that simply "AI models available in Canada should comply with the Canadian copyright framework." To protect the Canadian storytelling ecosystem, legislation “needs clarity on copyright issues related to both the training of AI datasets and the use of AI-generated content…..Copyright remains a central framework law for growing our industry.” He furthers that overall “creative, logistical and administrative workers should be asked if they consent to use an AI tool on a production set or at the production office.” However, it is unclear how companies may approach those who do not.
ACTRA’s National Executive Director and Chief Negotiator Marie Kelly is concerned that already “AI is being used for voice and character manipulation” with talent becoming susceptible to being used for deepfake content. ACTRA members have reported multiple incidents of having their voices through to onscreen video game characters manipulated inappropriately with AI.
“When implemented responsibly,” Kelly furthers, “technology has, and will continue, to allow performers and creators across the value chain to tell their stories to Canadians and beyond.” And, “regulation and effective oversight of the screen-based media production industry in Canada will contribute to the health of the Canadian economy generally.”
ACTRA believes that “the Copyright Act is fundamentally biased against performers by not ascribing a moral right to their work. Consent, compensation, and control…must underpin any new AI legislation…“The difference between getting a job one day, and not getting one the next can come down to the most minute things, including one’s reputation and Reputational harm is not currently encompassed by Bill C-27, the Artificial Intelligence and Data Act (AIDA)...While ACTRA supports the government’s intention to ensure that consent is required for the use of biometric information, including performers’ NIL [Name, Image and Likeness] Rights, a framework must be put in place to ensure AI developers and deployers take action to mitigate the potential for harm from their technologies.”
Will Selviz, Immersive Director and Founder of RENDRD, and Manuel Sainsily, TED Speaker and XR Instructor at McGill University, are creators who were invited to bring video content to life using Sora, OpenAI’s new AI model in private early access. Everything seen in the video entitled Protopica is generated through AI in collaboration with Sainsily and Selviz. It showcases a realm where future possibilities are envisioned, and forgotten pasts explored. Selviz and Sainsily created this to raise the question: “What if our lives are the result of choices made long before our existence?”
The timely choices to be made around AI’s impact on our stories and creativity will also have a lasting impact. How content and the creative teams behind content are protected is one example of what needs to be addressed with urgency as platforms continue to be trained and improved on in order to offer increased value to their users.
As creators actively using AI tools to tell their stories, Selviz and Sainsily also feel that governing bodies should focus on updating copyright laws to address AI-generated content and ensure fair compensation for artists whose work may be used in AI training. Transparent practices in AI development can help to protect artists' contributions. Furthermore, guidelines can help creators to navigate the complex implications of this technology in art.
AI has the power to make interactive content extremely personalized and compelling thanks to inputs from audiences, both intentionally and unintentionally. How these inputs are protected through clicks, text, or even biometric data sharing is essential. Legislation, guidelines and even education to directly protect audiences are important to consider as well.
Responding Through Canada’s Storytelling Support System
Canada invests hundreds of millions of dollars annually, federally and provincially, to support the development of Canadian-owned IP across mediums. This investment helps to accelerate growth of studios and therefore can have a strong positive impact on the Canadian storytelling ecosystem. Not only is it important for Canadian IP to be protected as mentioned above, but there is also an opportunity to respond to AI’s impacts through these entities already investing resources in the industry’s growth.
Along with legislation, Sonoda believes this can be achieved by ensuring production program guidelines continue to be updated, along with tax credit eligibility rules and training. “Unions and guilds need to identify the new skill sets and competencies necessary in the changing audiovisual landscape.” Selviz and Sainsily feel that accessible training beyond how to use the tools technically would be of value. This includes how to integrate AI ethically into creative processes and also how to ensure that AI is used in ways that respect and preserve diverse cultural perspectives.
“The CMF has been and continues to be champions of experimentation and innovation with emerging technologies” shares Valerie Creighton, President & CEO, Canada Media Fund. “So as we approach the next few years, we are definitely thinking through how AI will be handled when it comes to funding applicants—but that is a process, one that will involve consulting with the industry, speaking with Canadian Heritage, taking direction from the federal government with things like Bill C-27. We know that the industry looks to the CMF for guidance, and we value that trust. We want to get this right.”
Protecting and Accelerating our Ability to Tell Our Stories
As shared in my previous contribution “We need more control over AI’s influence on our Stories,” platforms generate what AI perceives as the most probable outcomes, something that can perpetuate bias, stereotypes and inaccuracies in content, impacting story content and the negative impact it may have on audience perspective. WGC’s McDougall fears that how platforms may be training their tools could also lead to “the loss of distinct and unique Canadian voices on their screens, and a homogenization of culture across the country and around the world.”
How can the Canadian ecosystem help to both prevent bias, stereotypes and inaccuracies and preserve and celebrate our culture in this new environment with AI?
Selviz and Sainsily feel that there is an opportunity for support specifically for AI initiatives focused on cultural preservation. Additionally, while AI tools are contributing to making creating content easier, it is important to ensure that they’re accessible to all. Current AI tools often favor English-speaking users, for example, potentially marginalizing others and their stories.
“There are still a lot of stories out there, from creators and communities across our country. An abundance of important stories waiting to be told, and the CMF is dedicated to seeing those stories come to life. Our stories will always be better when told by Canadian storytellers, not by AI.” shares Creighton.
Timely Responses to AI’s Evolving, Game-Changing Impact
Responding to AI’s game-changing impact is up to all entities that are part of the storytelling ecosystem that it is impacting, both positively and negatively. A wait-and-see approach, slowly addressing issues, and not keeping up with new needs could be detrimental at the speed that these incredible advances in AI tools, and their ongoing training, are taking place.
"The urgency” McDougall feels “is being driven by the apparent break-neck speed of the development of generative-AI technologies, as well as pressures to adopt them as a cost-cutting measure.”
Dallaporta shares that “in October 2023, the Government of Canada launched the consultation on Copyright in the Age of Generative Artificial Intelligence as a part of its ongoing efforts to update and improve Canada's copyright framework. Comments received through the consultation will help inform the Government's policy development process. It closed in January 2024, and Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada and Canadian Heritage are carefully reviewing all the feedback received.” Submissions they received were published this June. Based on the submissions received at the beginning of 2024, a report summarizing “what we heard from all involved parties” will be released in the coming months.
