Julie Seal urges agencies to keep a paper trail and insurance for AI video work

Julie Seal argues that AI video should be treated like any other production job, with documentation and insurance sitting behind the creative work.

In her fifth column on AI, Seal imagines a team that has produced an impressive, carefully made AI video ad. The client is delighted and the team is thrilled. Then, a few weeks later, a lawyer gets in touch because a rights holder has questions about one scene: how it was made and what references were used.

In her scenario, the producer saves the day. They have indemnity insurance documents filed away and a full paper trail to hand.

That record covers the platforms used for each element, the models, prompts and references, the human approvals within the agency and a recorded discussion with the client about using AI. It also tracks the rounds of amends, with the new prompts, references and models used for them, plus notes, client sign-off, the agency's usage policy and the insurance details.

With that evidence, the team can show it did not reference the rights holder's work at all, and the claim falls away.

Insurance as peace of mind

Seal says insurance is the most important part. She admits she is not naturally drawn to it, describing herself as someone who prefers to “ask for forgiveness, not permission” and a “chronic optimist”, so it has always felt like paying for something unlikely to happen.

That changed when she considered the prospect of a long, stressful legal dispute over an AI campaign. She already has enough keeping her awake at night, she writes, not least her five-year-old, and the cover costs less than a month of Pret salads and iced Americanos.

“Yep, making AI stuff isn’t only about creating loveliness almost instantly. It’s about paperwork, process and proof too. Rightly so. Nobody wants to nick anything from anyone.”

She suggests that anyone without cover contacts broker Charles Milnes.