
This Director Advocates for AI in Hollywood: ‘AI Can Provide’ Scripts ‘in Seconds’
By Movieguide® Contributor
Director and screenwriter Paul Schrader is saying “Why not?” to artificial intelligence.
“I’M STUNNED,” Schrader wrote in a Facebook post Jan. 17. “I just asked chatgpt for ‘an idea for Paul Schrader film.’ Then Paul Thomas Anderson. Then Quentin Tarantino. Then Harmony Korine. Then Ingmar Bergman. Then Rossellini. Lang. Scorsese. Murnau. Capra. Ford. Speilberg [sic]. Lynch. Every idea chatgpt came up with (in a few seconds) was good. And original. And fleshed out. Why should writers sit around for months searching for a good idea when AI can provide one in seconds?”
Producer on THE DREW BARRYMORE SHOW, Christian Becker, pointed out in the comments: “In order for this to even happen, there first has to BE a Paul Schrader, a Paul Thomas Anderson, a Quentin Tarantino, etc. Chatgpt can’t give you prompts if these writers didn’t put their work out there first. This way of thinking stunts future writers from having voices themselves/doing the work to find their voice. Sure, this can give us somewhat compelling versions of these works, but we won’t get any new voices to emerge because AI won’t even know them.”
Recently, Schrader has shown a lot of interest in AI.
On Jan. 16, Schrader said he gave ChatGPT a script he wrote years ago. In five seconds, the AI made improvements that were better than he’d “ever received” from a “film executive.”
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“[I’ve] come to realize that AI is smarter than I am,” he added. “Has better ideas, has more efficient ways to execute them. This is an existential moment, akin to what Kasparov felt in 1997 when he realized Deep Blue was going to beat him at chess.”
REBEL MOON director Zack Snyder is another director who embraces AI.
“Educating yourself and understanding what [AI] can and can’t do is important right now, especially where it exists in image-making and storytelling,” he said. “You have to understand what it is and what it’s not capable of, and you have to be able to use it as a tool as opposed to standing on the sidelines with your hands on your hips.”
David Cronenberg, whose latest movie is THE SHROUDS, is yet another who uses AI.
“It’s just another tool, and it’s one that I welcome,” Cronenberg said at the Marrakech International Film Festival. “I’ve used it in my last few movies.”
“For me, technology is already a part of that balance,” he added. “I have an AI chip in my hearing aid. The lens of my eye is plastic; I don’t wear glasses anymore. My entire interaction with the world is mediated through technology.”
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