The CCAI Glossary is a set of cross-industry definitions developed and ratified by the people who make film, television, and content.
Our goal is to create a shared language for how we, as an industry, discuss, and make decisions about how (and if) we want to use AI in our work.
It is a living document that will be updated as the technology evolves, but we need your help! Each definition has a field to invite your feedback. If you are interested in becoming a Definitions Delegate, please sign up by clicking “Get Involved” on the main page.
Generative AI is here, and its impact is being felt unevenly across creative work. Without shared terms and comparable evidence, people are left to make sense of a new, complex technology directly impacting their industry all from headlines, vendor claims or isolated experience.
CCAI gives the creative community common reference points: definitions discussed and ratified across disciplines, derived from real-world, role-level lived experience and evidence about how AI technologies and capabilities modify work, and a way for creatives to test that evidence against what they are seeing themselves.
The goal is not to predict one future for the entire industry. It is to make complex, ongoing change understandable and visible. We can upgrade our industry's systems and institutions. When people can see what colleagues in their own roles are reporting — using (or not using) AI tools, discussing new technology and its capabilities and impacts, and identifying where education and cross-skilling may help — they are able to respond with clarity and agency. As further testimonies come in, the evidence becomes clearer and more useful to creatives, helping to turn fear and confusion into empowerment.
The Creators Coalition on AI is a tech-agnostic convening organization created as a central hub for cross-industry discussion about how AI is affecting entertainment and creative communities.
The wider coalition includes members of the DGA, SAG-AFTRA, WGA, Producers United, PGA, and IATSE, alongside independent artists, executives, and technologists. People participate as individuals in an open discussion—not as organizational endorsements. To see our founders and signatories, click here.
A simplified representation of a digital environment or scene used as an early-stage input or reference for design, visualization, or content generation workflows before final assets are developed. Also referred to as Blockout.
*Definition requires further review. Give your feedback below.
Deliberation Summary:
Consider adding “Blockout” as an alternative term, noting the technique is generally understood as a rough, untextured prototype of an environment or asset built from basic geometric forms.
Pre-Publication V1. A simplified representation of a digital environment or scene used as an early-stage input or reference for design, visualization, or content generation workflows before final assets are developed.