When it comes to AI and documentary, all bets are off in 2025. So, we scrapped our column line-up for The Synthesis and hit reset. To recap, it’s been a dizzying year so far: in Europe, the February Paris AI Policy Action summit failed to usher in much meaningful regulation, and in the U.S., under the new Presidential administration, a March directive from the National Institute of Standards and Technology eliminates the mention of “AI safety” and “AI fairness.” To reboot in this context, we checked in with a few documentarians, artists, and human rights advocates. We asked them this question: In this unregulated and dysregulated landscape, what are the immediate and new concerns of AI shaping the future of documentary filmmaking in 2025?