The British Academy Film Awards (BAFTAs) have added clause regarding the use of generative AI to their TV Awards rules, according to a Thursday article by Deadline. The clause is listed in the introductory section of the British award show’s Rules and Guidelines website, which opened for submissions earlier today.
“The BAFTA Television Awards are presented annually to recognise, honour and reward individuals for outstanding human achievement in originating, shaping and realising the final artistic outcome regardless of the tools used to bring this work to life,” the disclaimer reads, as per Deadline. “Where the use of Generative AI or other digital tools is relevant to the assessment of the work, BAFTA reserves the right to request additional information regarding the nature of such use and the extent of human creative involvement.”
The statement’s wording is interesting in that it does not seem to prohibit the use of generative AI in its entirety; rather, it states that the BAFTAs reserve the right to investigate the relevance of said technology upon disclosure. It’s unclear what exactly the organization’s threshold for an acceptable amount of AI usage is, but the intentionally vague wording suggests this is a criterion that will likely be judged on a case-by-case basis.
To say that the sudden influx of large language models (LLMs) like ChatGPT and Claude have sent the television and film industries into chaos would almost seem an understatement. The fear of having their jobs replaced by artificial intelligence played a large part in the SAG-AFTRA and WAG strikes of 2023, and while the respective actors and writers each received some minor protections from LLMs as part of their compromise with American studios, it seems as those fears were not entirely without foundation. Several filmmakers have experimented with AI visuals in their recent pictures, and X (formerly Twitter) owner CEO Elon Musk announced his intent to fully recreate Homer’s Odyssey as a “historically accurate” AI-generated film (via The Guardian).
Per Deadline, this year’s BAFTA TV Awards will have their nominees announced on March 22 of next year, with the ceremony taking place in early May. HBO Max was among the companies added to the organization’s list of eligible broadcasters this year.