The topic of AI, more specifically generative AI, is sensitive today. For some, it is unavoidable and should be embraced, or “you will be left behind”; others believe AI should not exist in art, but there is a grey area: call AI a tool.
In this article, we will discuss generative AI in filmmaking: is it good? Is it bad? Should we embrace ‘the future’? Comments from actress and singer Osas Okonyon and writer and actress Lois Truly, from an exclusive interview with Streamdorm.
The year is 2026; film festivals at home and abroad not only have themes on the topic “AI in filmmaking” but are actively promoting “AI filmmakers” and holding masterclasses on AI. An example is AFRIFF, which is holding an AI film masterclass, and the recently founded Nigeria Artificial Intelligence Film Festival, whose founder, Obinna Okerekeocha, is also speaking at AFRIFF. According to these festivals, they are helping to create AI-powered storytelling, championing African creators who experiment with new tools while keeping human creativity at the centre. (AFRIFF)
But how is the industry reacting to this?
While it is not mainstream, AI films or AI-enhanced films exist; Niyi Akinmolayan’s 2025 ‘Colors of Fire’ received mixed reviews from audiences and critics alike for its use of AI to help with its effect, and Toyosi Akerele-Ogunsiji’s Makemation (2025), which is a film on artificial intelligence, grossed ₦88.9M.
Outside of feature films, content creators and a group now labelled “AI filmmakers” have produced fully AI feature films and short films with thousands of skits circulating on the internet.
It is worth noting AI is not fully rejected by audiences; it is very evident through internet engagement that the audience will consume AI content, but AI-enhanced feature films will be met with criticism. In China, the world’s first fully AI-generated film, ‘Sanxingdui: Future Past’, was released, and it bombed, making $253,000 against a $1.5 million budget, but we will have to observe how a fully AI-generated movie performs as ‘Gods Don’t Give Gifts’ is expected to release in the US.
Who is sponsoring these AI projects?
Companies like Bona Film Group in China, TCL, Native Foreign, Runway, Luma Labs, OpenAI, and ByteDance are facilitating these projects. Hollywood stars like Ben Affleck, Darren Aronofsky, Tye Sheridan, and so on have created their own AI companies to help filmmaking.
These companies argue AI filmmaking is the future and will help not only reduce production cost but time to make CGI.
What is Nollywood saying?
Film and TV writer Lois Truly told Streamdorm, “AI is another tool we’ll have to learn how to use for work without letting it make us redundant.” She believes AI is another phase in the advancement of technology in filmmaking, similar to typewriters and computers. To her the fact that AI still needs human involvement is a testament that the technology can’t replace humans; “I see AI scripts and the fact that they still need a human to prompt them tells me we’ll be okay. Nollywood will be fine, regardless. AI will be a representation of the quality any filmmaker already has,” she said.
On the other hand, actress Osas Okonyon questions the ethics and calls for moderation on the technology: “I think that AI generally is a tool. It’s an amazing tool for anything, you know? I think that if or when used right, it is very capable and beyond capable; [it] has even contributed to a lot of the advancements that we’ve had in the world. I think where I draw the line is in the encroachment of the arts.”
Osas: I have nothing against AI being used to help facilitate the moving parts of film [or] artistic endeavours in general. But I’m not… I’m going to categorically state that I’m certainly not a fan of AI replicating genuine art. I’m not a fan of indiscriminate use of generative AI, and for many different reasons, right? Starting, first of all, even with the fact that art is very essential to the human race. I’m just going to state very categorically that AI cannot make or create art, full stop. Art in itself is an expression of human creativity, right? What makes art art is the soul, right? AI has no consciousness or soul.
Osas Okonyon argues AI is algorithmic; hence, it is incapable of creating art: “What AI does is replicate. What AI does is assemble algorithms. What it does is imitate, mimic, steal.”
Osas: On AI with respect to filmmaking, I wanted to add that my major drawback, especially in terms of ethics, is the fact that the lines are generally blurred right now. It’s a very fast-changing innovation, and so regulation around it is still very shaky. Real data of real people are being used (many times without consent), and you can see this across several instances where a popular actor/public figure’s image is slightly modified and presented as an artificially generated character. I don’t really get the obsession with mimicking human nature and presenting them as true. What do we really need a “realistic” human-looking AI character for?
We’re slowly erasing true appreciation for art and the work it takes. Because once people put their art out there, others can simply enter it into these bots and replicate them (poorly, might I add) in number. An example is the artist Yung Lean and Generation’s music video concept that was almost immediately hijacked into an AI replication trend, with people making their own forms with AI. Causing the wonder of such a beautiful concept to quickly fade. Imagine a video like that being made in the earlier years before GenAI, and how much more it would have been regarded/appreciated.
How does AI filmmaking move an industry (that consists of real people) forward when what you have done is essentially replace these people? I have yet to see one argument for AI films that isn’t tied to FOMO (trying to jump on a supposed moving train so as not to miss the projected benefits) or the money that it is projected to generate/save. Nollywood doesn’t need AI films. What it needs is systems that encourage and breed creativity, better government support in terms of infrastructure and financing, and commensurate compensation for labour across all the different arms. On the list of things that we need, outsourcing our imagination and creativity to LLMs is non-existent.
