Can AI Write ‘Casablanca’? Writers Go for ChatGPT – Technology

NEW YORK (AP) — When Greg Brockman, president and co-founder of ChatGPT maker OpenAI, was recently praising the power of artificial intelligence, he turned to “Game of Thrones.”

Imagine using AI to rewrite the ending of the not-so-popular finale. Maybe even get into the show.

“That’s what entertainment looks like,” Brockman said.

Less than six months after ChatGPT’s release, generative artificial intelligence is already causing widespread anxiety across Hollywood. Concerns about chatbots writing and rewriting scripts are one of the main reasons TV and film writers picked him up earlier this week.

The Writers Guild of America is on strike for better pay in an industry where streaming has upended many of the old rules, but AI looms as growing fears.

“AI is scary,” says Danny Strong, creator of “Dopesick” and “Empire.” “Now I’ve seen some writing on ChatGPT, and Chat is a terrible writer, so I’m not scared right now. But who knows? That might change.”

The screenwriter says the AI ​​chatbot could potentially be used to spit out a rough first draft with a few simple prompts (“heist movie set in Beijing”). The writer was then hired for a lower wage and broke it off.

Screenplays can also be slyly generated in the style of famous authors. How about a comedy voiced by Nora Ephron? Or a gangster movie like Mario Puzo? You don’t get anything close to “Casablanca,” but the bare bones of Liam Neeson’s bad thriller isn’t out of the question.

The WGA basic agreement defines authors as “persons” and only human works are copyrightable. But while no one sees the “AI-powered” scriptwriter credits at the beginning of the movie, it uses playback AI to create outlines, fill in scenes, and simulate updrafts. There are countless ways.

“We are not totally against AI,” said WGA East president and news and documentary writer Michael Winship. “There is a way to help. But too many people use it against us and use it to create mediocrity. I have.”

The Guild is looking for more safeguards on how AI can be applied to screenplays. The studio has said it is sabotaging the issue.

The Alliance of Film and Television Producers, which negotiates on behalf of production companies, has offered to meet annually with the Guild to review definitions of the rapidly evolving technology.

“This is something that requires more discussion, and we are committed to doing so,” AMPTP said in a brief position statement released on Thursday.

Experts say the current battle with regenerative AI facing screenwriters is just the beginning. The World Economic Forum released a report this week predicting that nearly a quarter of his jobs will be destroyed by AI over the next five years.

Sarah Myers West, managing director of the AI ​​Now Institute, a nonprofit that is lobbying governments to tighten regulations on AI, said:

“It haunts me that many of the most meaningful initiatives for technology accountability are the product of worker-led organizing.”

AI has already permeated almost every part of filmmaking. It has been used to prevent aging of actors, remove swear words from scenes in post-production, provide recommended viewing on Netflix, and restore the voices of Anthony Bourdain and Andy Warhol after their deaths.

The Screen Actors Guild, which plans to begin its own negotiations with AMPTP this summer, says it is keeping a close eye on the evolving legal landscape surrounding AI.

“Human creators are the foundation of the creative industry and they must be respected and paid for their work,” the Actors Guild said.

The impact on the script is only being investigated. Actors Alan Alda and Mike Farrell recently reunited to read a new scene from “M(asterisk)A(asterisk)S(asterisk)H” written by ChatGPT. The results weren’t as exciting, but they weren’t terrible either.

“Why would you want a robot to write a script and interpret human emotions when you already have studio executives who can do it?” Deadpan Alda.

Writers are one of the notorious talents that have long been exploited in Hollywood. The movies they write usually never get made. If so, they are often rewritten many times. Raymond Chandler once wrote:

Writers are used to being replaced. Now they see AI as a new, readily available and cheap competitor.

“Obviously, what writers and humans can do, AI can’t do. But I don’t know if they necessarily believe so,” says screenwriter John Terry Gudson (“A Black Lady Sketchshow”). . “Human writers need to be in charge, and we’re not trying to be gig workers, we’re just fixing what AI does. We need to tell stories.”

Dramatizing their predicament as man versus machine certainly does not undermine the WGA’s cause in public opinion. Writers battle the threat of AI, but there are growing concerns about how renewable AI products are rushing into society.

AI pioneer Geoffrey Hinton recently left Google to speak freely about its potential dangers. Hinton told the New York Times, “It’s hard to see how you could prevent bad people from exploiting it.

“What’s particularly frightening about this is that no one, including many of the people involved in its creation, seems able to explain exactly what it can do and how quickly it will be able to do more. No,” says actor and screenwriter Clark Gregg. .

Writers find themselves in the awkward position of negotiating a nascent technology with potentially radical implications. Meanwhile, his AI-generated songs by “Fake Drake” and “Fake Eminem” continue to circulate online.

James Grimmelmann, Professor of Digital Information Law at Cornell University, said: “The Guild is in a position to try to imagine many different possible futures.”

Thus, the lengthy work stoppage many are anticipating (the strike could last for more than three months, Moody’s Investor Service predicts) is a reflection of how regenerative AI is scripting scripts. It may provide more time for reshaping or analysis.

Meanwhile, chanting demonstrators hold signs with messages directed at their digital enemies. Seen on the picket line:

“ChatGPT has no childhood trauma”; “I heard AI refuses to take notes”; and “I wrote this on ChatGPT.” Bumsted and Aron Ranen contributed to this report.