ChatGPT Is Going To Start Writing Hollywood Movies?
Many fear ChatGPT may soon create scripts for Hollywood movies, and the Writers Guild of America is now looking for ways to protect writers' jobs.
When ChatGPT was launched last November, it took the world by storm. While many had been slowly watching the advent of artificial intelligence looming for years, ChatGPT reawakened fears for many. Most recently, according to Deadline, ChatGPT has been making the writers of Hollywood movies and TV series a little nervous, sparking the Writers Guild of America (WGA) to take action out of fear their jobs may soon be replaced.
While the program has its downsides, ChatGPT is a stunningly sophisticated chatbot that can spit out coherent texts in seconds. Deadline used it to craft a pitch for a Mad Max reboot. What the chatbot spit out was a detailed paragraph outlining the premise of a show that, while needing some tweaking and development to have a chance, was disconcertingly doable.
What often takes writers weeks or months to formulate, ChatGPT can do in 30 seconds. While the program is not yet ready to go off on its own and craft the next big script, many in the industry are starting to feel worried about what ChatGPT could mean for the future of Hollywood movies. An industry that is notorious for doing too little too late has decided to step in early on this one.
Marc Guggenheim, co-creator of Arrow doubles down on this notion, stating that now is the time to take contractual steps to protect writers. The WGA recently put out new regulations limiting the use of AI technology. These new regulations could prohibit scripts written with the help of AI.
The guild has affirmed its stance on protecting writers for the future, even though AI programs are not sophisticated enough to take their jobs just yet. For many writers, this comes as a relief after an initial scare that came in response to the release of ChatGPT and means that we probably won’t see scripts written by AI in Hollywood movies anytime soon.
The chatbot has proven to be surprisingly adept at crafting written works. Poems, essays, and even short scripts have all been written entirely by the program. However, that doesn’t mean ChatGPT will be writing the next big Hollywood movie anytime soon.
Writers who have played around with the program found numerous flaws in its work. ChatGPT is not good at writing humor, and still requires extensive input from a human to create a script that would be useable in a film. While AI tools are unlikely to replace writers in the foreseeable future, they may be able to be utilized as a tool to assist creators.
Some took the threat of ChatGPT being used in Hollywood movies more seriously than others. Ben Berman, director of The Amazing Jonathon Documentary and Man Seeking Woman, allegedly announced his retirement, fearing his job would be overtaken by AI. He later retracted the statement, noting his excitement to see how he will be able to collaborate with programs like ChatGPT in the future.
As it stands now, ChatGPT is not sophisticated enough to replace the writers of our favorite Hollywood movies and TV shows, especially if the WGA has anything to do with it. For now, writers and those aspiring to be can rest assured they will have a job in the foreseeable future. The question remains not when ChatGPT will take over writing Hollywood movies but how it can assist writers in being even better.
