How do indies feel about generative AI?

As generative artificial intelligence becomes increasingly prevalent across all sectors of the economy, production companies, it seems, are dipping their toes into the water – with some more keen to take the plunge than others.

The 2025 Broadcast Indie Survey, conducted earlier this year, asked companies about whether and how they are using the technology, and how they felt about it. Almost one in five (17%) of respondents say they are using AI regularly – but more than half (59%) say they have used AI in the development process at some point in the past year, and 29% have used it in production.

Of the respondents who offer further details about how their company has used it in development, 32% say they used it to produce visuals or artwork, and 16% used it for research.

Efficiency is a key benefit of using the technology, according to indies – one indie notes, it has been “very helpful in saving time in certain areas of development and research” while another agrees it “can make work more streamlined”.

But despite the apparent prevalence of AI in development, many indies are keen to stress that they have strict guardrails around their use, with one respondent saying they use it “for pictures and deck illustrations only”, adding firmly: “We do not allow AI treatment writing.”

In production, AI use is less far less common. Of the indies embracing AI in development, 38% are not using it in production. Interestingly, however, fewer respondents chose to answer the question at all, which might be a hint that more are using it than want to admit to it – but at the very least suggests there is some reluctance to talk about it. When asked for details about how they’re using it in production, one respondent insists they’ve used it “only in a very low-key way”.

Three quarters (75%) of those who offer additional details about their production use say they mostly or entirely use it in post-production – it is particularly helpful for audio editing (cited by 27% of respondents) and transcript production (20%).

The proliferation of accessible generative AI tools since the launch of Chat GPT in late 2022 significantly boosted public awareness of the technology. But as a number of our respondents point out, AI use, particularly in post-production, is nothing new – one indie notes they only have “the usual post-production plug-ins” which “have been there for years”.

Many indies’ biggest concern is ensuring they use AI ethically and “ensure editorial integrity”, as one indie puts it, while another worries about the “cost in terms of workforce but also the environment”.

Despite this, indies’ attitudes towards AI were broadly positive – almost two thirds (64%) say they are keen to explore using in the future. The least positive respondents identify as neutral towards AI – none say they are unlikely to explore or use AI in the future.

This is perhaps driven by the feeling that the march of AI is inescapable – “It’s the way forward and it would be foolhardy not to realise that,” one respondent says, while another adds: “We feel a need to understand what it is capable of so as not to get left behind.”

As AI grows more ubiquitous, the overall attitude among indies is one of cautious optimism – despite resistance to using AI (or being seen to use AI) in some areas, in others there is outright enthusiasm, with AI viewed not as a replacement of human creative efforts, but as a tool to aid creative processes and streamline monotonous tasks.