Saint-Paul-De-Vence Declaration for a Cultural Governance of Artificial Intelligence

Lumière Summit — Saint-Paul-de-Vence, 7 September 2026

Jointly presented by France and the Republic of Korea

 

1. The participants gathered in Saint-Paul-de-Vence for the Lumière Summit, the first international summit on cinema and the moving image, representing Countries, Regions, International Organizations, and Professionals from the film, audiovisual and video game industries, and committed to creation and cultural diversity, examined the issues arising from the rapid development of artificial intelligence, particularly generative and agentic artificial intelligence, and its impact on the moving-image ecosystem and creators’ rights. They adopted this Declaration.

2. The participants recognize that artificial intelligence is already integrated into professional practices across the film and moving-image sectors. It is driving a structural transformation in the conditions under which works are created, produced, distributed and accessed. This shift is unprecedented in scale compared with the technological changes to which the film and moving-image sectors have adapted in the past. It presents opportunities, but also entails risks, particularly in terms of employment across the sector, respect for the rights of industry stakeholders, and cultural diversity.

3. The participants take note of the work undertaken within the framework of the UNESCO Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions, the United Nations General Assembly resolutions on artificial intelligence, the Global Digital Compact, the UNESCO Recommendation on the Ethics of Artificial Intelligence, WIPO’s work on intellectual property and artificial intelligence, as well as relevant regional regulatory frameworks.

4. The participants affirm their commitment to the ethical use of artificial intelligence in a manner that respects human creation, cultural diversity and creative freedom.

5. They express their support for the following six fundamental principles:

I. Protection and Promotion of Cultural Diversity

6. Artificial intelligence systems that produce, disseminate or transform cultural works and expressions, or are trained on them, fall fully within the scope of the 2005 UNESCO Convention. The participants harness the potential of artificial intelligence to enhance the discoverability and visibility of the diversity of cultural expressions, while supporting efforts to prevent cultural homogenization.

II. Human Creation and Recognition of Creators’ Contributions

7. The participants recognize that human-created works form the foundation on which the quality and richness of generative artificial intelligence systems depend. They share the conviction that a sustainable and balanced relationship between the technology sector and creators is in everyone’s interest, and that such a relationship requires recognition of creators’ contributions to the artificial intelligence value chain. To that end, they emphasize that the use of protected works to train artificial intelligence systems, as well as the creation of new content, must respect intellectual property rights and provide fair remuneration to rightsholders.

They affirm that preserving human artistic jobs and talent is an enduring public-policy objective. They strive to analyze the impact of artificial intelligence on artistic employment and, where necessary, preserve and support the vitality of human creation and the diversity of human artistic talent.

III. Transparency, Trust and Traceability

8. The participants emphasize that trust in generative artificial intelligence systems can only be founded on transparency regarding how they operate, while respecting trade secrets. They commit to promoting transparency regarding the composition and origin of training data; the clear identification of content generated or manipulated by artificial intelligence, enabling every user to distinguish it from a human-created work or performances; and traceability, enabling rightsholders to exercise their rights and competent authorities to verify that practices comply with applicable legal frameworks.

IV. Cultural Policy in the Age of AI

9. The participants reaffirm the right of Countries and Regions to define, implement and adapt their cultural policies, as recognized by the 2005 UNESCO Convention. In this regard, they encourage the adaptation of public measures designed to support local creation, ensure the visibility and fair remuneration of human-created works or performances, and preserve artistic employment in the age of artificial intelligence.

V. Multilingualism and Cultural Inclusion

10. The participants recognize that artificial intelligence systems are more effective, robust and relevant when they draw on broad and diverse linguistic and cultural corpora. They agree that it is in the common interest to support the digitization and structuring of corpora from non-hegemonic languages and cultures, to develop multilingual and multicultural artificial intelligence models, and to involve minority linguistic and cultural communities in the design of systems that affect them.

VI. Strengthened Dialogue and Multilateral Governance

11. The participants agree to support the use of artificial intelligence by professionals by promoting a framework that guarantees its ethical use, respects the intellectual property rights of all stakeholders throughout the chain of title, in particular authors, producers, performers and voice actors, as well as rights related to personality attributes, including privacy and rights relating to image and voice. The participants commit to supporting cross-industry dialogue on these uses in order to develop a collective understanding of changes in each sector and assess their economic, social, cultural and environmental impacts.

12. The participants express their support for the work undertaken by UNESCO to address the challenges raised by the development of artificial intelligence in the context of implementing the 2005 Convention. This includes revising the Operational Guidelines on the Implementation of the 2005 UNESCO Convention in the Digital Environment to explicitly incorporate issues relating to generative artificial intelligence, as well as considering the development of an Additional Protocol, establishing standards for creator’s rights, transparency, discoverability and the protection of cultural diversity.

13. The participants welcome the discussions taking place within WIPO on intellectual property and artificial intelligence, and call for this work to be further developed in coordination with UNESCO and other relevant forums.

 

Adopted at Saint-Paul-de-Vence, 7 September 2026.

Signatories:

 

States, Regions, International Organizations

Canada, Côte d’Ivoire, Finland, France, Greece, Indonesia, Iraq, Nigeria, Republic of Korea, South Africa,

 

National and Regional Film Agencies

Austrian Film Institute, British Film Institute, Cinema Foundation of Armenia, Estonian Film Institute, European Film Agency Directors Association (EFAD), Film Centre of Montenegro, Film Fund Luxembourg, Finnish Film Foundation, Fondo Mixto de Promoción Cinematográfica Proimágenes Colombia, Fonds des Médias du Canada, General Organization for Cinema of Syria, German Federal Film Board, Hellenic Film and Audiovisual Center, Hungary, Indonesian Film Agency, Instituto do Cinema e do Audiovisual, KOCCA, KOFIC, Screen Ireland, SODEC, Swedish Film Institute, Téléfilm Canada

 

Organizations

Africa International Film Festival (AFRIFF), African Film and Media Arts Collective (AFMAC), Arcom, Arte France, Association Française des Cinémas Art et Essai, Banijay France, Beta Group, Busan International Film Festival, Business France, Chapter 2, Cinépolis, Cineworld Group, CISAC, CITIA, CJ ENM, CJ Group, Creative Artists Agency (CAA), Durban FilmMart Institute, European Coalitions for Cultural Diversity, Eastman Kodak Co., École GOBELINS Paris, European Film Agency Directors Association (EFAD, Expertise France, Federation Studios, Festival de Cannes, Festival Séries Mania, FICAM, Film Heritage Foundation, Films du Losange,  French Coalition for Cultural Diversity, Fubon Educational and Cultural Foundation, Galaxy Studio, Gaumont, Gaumont Télévision, GLOBO, HTC, I Wonder Pictures, Illumination Studios Paris, International Confederation of Arthouse Cinemas (CICAE), International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR), International Union of Cinemas (UNIC), JP Morgan, KawanKawan Media, Kinepolis Group, La Fémis, La Filière audiovisuelle (LaFa), Letterboxd,  Liquid XO, M6, Mediawan, Misr International Films, mk2 Group,  National Federation of French Cinemas (FNCF), NAVER, NEXON Korea, Nisaba Institution for Moving Images, Nomadis Image, North Road, Pathé Cinémas, Pathé Films, PHI Centre, Rothschild & Co, San Sebastian Film Festival, The Originals Group (TOG), SLL, Society of Authors, Composers and Publishers of Music (SACEM), Society of Dramatic Authors and Composers (SACD), Society for the Administration of Performers’ Rights (ADAMI), Sorbonne Nouvelle University, Studios de Bry, Sud Écriture, Sunuy Films, Toronto International Film Festival, TVING, Unifrance, USC School of Cinematic Arts, Vietnam Film Promotion and Development Association, Vuelta, Webedia Éléphant, Xilam Animation

 

Public personalities

Nabil Ayouch, Céline Calvez, Angele Diabang, Laurence Farreng, July Jung, Denis Masséglia, Tarik Saleh