BFI guidance on AI use in funding applications and funded projects

Summary

Updated 28 January 2026, this BFI guidance page sets the operative rules for AI use across all BFI funding programs. The BFI does not prohibit AI but requires applicants to disclose AI use both in funded work and in preparing the application, and to provide a warranty that no third-party rights have been or will be infringed. These requirements are now standard across BFI funding rounds and represent the template for industry acceptable-use norms that animation graduates entering the funded sector will encounter.

Implications for animation education

Animation educators preparing students for funded practice in the UK should treat the BFI's disclosure and warranty requirements as the baseline professional standard. Students need to understand that using generative AI tools in a funded production requires proactive disclosure and a considered position on rights clearance for any training data the tools were built on. Programs covering production funding should include a session on funder AI policies alongside coverage of other contractual obligations. The BFI's approach, requiring transparency rather than prohibiting AI, is likely to become the template for other UK public funders; students who understand how to manage AI disclosure in funding applications will be better prepared for the professional environment.

Related items

• AI in the Screen Sector: perspectives and paths forward (BFI / CoSTAR Foresight Lab)
• Screen Australia AI Transparency Statement (stakeholder provisions)

Source

Source: British Film Institute (BFI) ↗ (Policy Text)

Primary document: bfi.org.uk/get-funding-support/guidance-use-artificial-intelligence-ai-bfi-funding-applications-funded-projects ↗