AI has become a significant subject in the entertainment industry. The use of it has sparked concern amongst many in the industry, including Oscar-winning filmmaker Daniel Kwan. The Everything Everywhere All At Once director attended the Sundance Film Festival in January and headlined the THR x Autodesk AI and Independent Filmmaking panel at the Pendry Park City.

Kwan was joined by Joseph Gordon-Levitt, filmmaker Noah Segan, producer Janet Yang, and Autodesk’s Matthew Sivertson. The group engaged in a nearly 30-minute conversation discussing topics such as the recently launched Creators Coalition on AI and Focus Features’ documentary, The AI Doc: Or How I Became an Apocaloptimist, which had its world premiere at the film festival and is slated for release on March 27.

Kwan expressed that, though one should proceed with caution when using AI, it can be a beneficial tool for the entertainment industry. But, he stressed that “guardrails” must be put into place if AI is implemented.

This is an all-hands-on-deck situation. How do we imagine a world where this tool is not just something that we’re fighting but also something that can transform our industry to make it much better.

For Kwan, attending Sundance is nostalgic. It was 10 years ago that he was there with frequent collaborator, Daniel Scheinert, to premiere their film, Swiss Army Man. As he reminisced on his 2016 Sundance debut, he brought the conversation back to AI and expressed caution about the recent social media trend of users posting photos from 2016.

I’ve been thinking a lot about 2016 because of that trend right now. By the way, don’t do that. They’re using that to train their machines on you to show people how to age. Stop it, stop posting stuff, okay? Be careful with these things.