Few industries have been untouched by the growing presence of Artificial Intelligence (AI), and now it is the film industry that has made the turn towards using AI for scriptwriting: but what are the effects of this change? This summer saw the release of the eerily titled The Last Screenwriter (2024): the first ever script generated by AI. Every line of the film was created by an AI chat bot from a 17 word prompt. It was not a milestone that was well received by the film and TV industry, or by the wider public, as evidenced by the planned screening of the film at London’s Prince Charles cinema being cancelled due to complaints.
ITV have recently opened up a job opportunity for an ‘AI expert’ to ‘create TV shows, films and digital content’ and help with ‘ideation’ and ‘character development’. The role was advertised on LinkedIn and offered a salary between £80,000 and £95,000 for an AI expert to join their team. This caused responses from both industry professionals and the wider public. In a conversation with Broadcast, Lisa McGee, creator of Derry Girls, expressed her concern that the new role was “incredibly depressing” and “unethical”. Jack Rooke, the creator of Big Boys, similarly expressed his belief that ITV was "neglecting to realise their most successful scripted projects have always been born out of real life human experience".
Everything that AI learns is through the internet; in other words, AI recycles other content and makes it ‘new’. This has led to concerns about plagiarism, as everything AI creates is essentially ‘stolen’. AI can be used as a tool in writing, but when it replaces humans this causes ethical dilemmas: why pay a human to write a TV series when AI can write it in five minutes with a simple prompt? The use of AI in ‘The Last Screenwriter’ sets a dangerous precedent for how AI can be used.
Last summer, "Hollywood writers scored a major victory" against the use of AI after months of writers and actors striking. The Writers Guild of America approved the agreement made with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers and the new contract features strong rules about how AI can be used strictly to help, and not replace, the writing process. This was a positive step that saw the protection of writers and actors against the looming threat posed by AI that threatened to take away their jobs. This was the longest labour dispute in Hollywood’s history, and the Guardian said the main sticking point for strikers was the fear that "unchecked" AI could pit "artists against robots in a battle over human creativity".
The film industry is rightfully nervous for what the future holds. ITV responded to the backlash against its ad, stating that "while nothing can replace the human creativity of our teams", the channel is "exploring how GenAI can help our staff to work more efficiently and creatively".
References
https://theweek.com/culture-life/tv-radio/the-row-over-ai-in-tv-writers-rooms#:~:text=This%20summer%20saw%20the%20release,on%20a%2017%2Dword%20prompt.
https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2023/oct/01/hollywood-writers-strike-artificial-intelligence