Teaching AI in Film and Media Studies: Lights, Camera, Algorithms

A timely intervention into the role of AI in teaching film and media studies, this book offers insights into how scholars and educators can adapt their approaches in the face of emerging technologies.

Exploring the intersection of generative AI with film and media studies, this book highlights the importance of addressing AI in the classroom. It advocates for teaching AI literacy as an extension of media literacy, encouraging students to understand AI’s biases and limitations. It explores the impact of AI on a variety of widely taught topics, including copyright and remix culture, the concept of authorship and collaborative storytelling, film and media production, its potential in relation to speculative history and archival research, labor concerns in the media industries, as well as impacts on fans and audiences. The book considers how AI can foster creativity and critical thinking in students as they prepare for future roles in evolving media industries. Each chapter features suggested readings, activities, and assignments that can be implemented in and out of class to reinforce and cultivate AI literacy and proficiency.

This book is an essential resource for faculty members in Film and Media Studies who want to know more about how to engage with generative AI tools in their teaching, as well as graduate students taking pedagogy-focused courses.

Bridget Kies is an Associate Professor of Film Studies and Production and Faculty Fellow for AI at Oakland University, where she conducts workshops on teaching about and with AI. Her work on AI and media studies, co-authored with Mel Stanfill, has been published in Teaching Media. She is the author of Murder, She Wrote (2025) and co-editor of Fandom, the Next Generation (2022).

Mel Stanfill is an Associate Professor with a joint appointment in the Texts and Technology Program and the Department of English at the University of Central Florida. Key focuses of Stanfill’s work include the uses and abuses of platforms and cultural studies of the law. They have been published in venues like New Media and Society, Cultural Studies, and Television & New Media, and are the author of four books, including Rock This Way: Cultural Constructions of Musical Legitimacy (2023).