Documentary filmmaking is a genre whose authority rests on the camera as witness to what is real, is being fundamentally destabilized by artificial intelligence. Funding for long-form docs has collapsed by 38% over the last decade, leaving filmmakers with fewer resources precisely when the tools to deceive audiences have never been more powerful or accessible. AI can protect persecuted subjects, restore lost voices, and democratize production for racialized and emerging creators, yet it can also fabricate archival footage, automate the labour of researchers and editors, and erode the audience trust that documentaries depend on. New CRTC rules are beginning to require equity data and streamer contributions but say nothing yet about synthetic media standards. This panel asks the defining question of our moment: in a genre built on truth, what happens when the image can no longer be believed?

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