There is a great existential fear that permeates Hollywood right now when it comes to artificial intelligence. Can generative A.I. be used instead of script writers? Can generative A.I. video replace regular filmmaking? Most filmmakers have spoken out against generative A.I. in some form or another. However, one of the biggest supporters of the technology now seems to be Paul Schrader.
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In a recent Facebook post, legendary filmmaker Paul Schrader talked about his experience with ChatGPT, the most popular generative A.I. model. According to Schrader, he asked the program to mimic some of the great filmmakers that have ever lived. The result? Schrader was “stunned.”
“I’M STUNNED,” wrote Schrader. “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. 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?”
It appears ChatGPT has won over Schrader. Now, we will have to see if Schrader takes this knowledge and uses it in a future project. Could Schrader release the first film that was born out of ChatGPT? Perhaps. We’ll have to see what happens.
As mentioned, there have been a number of people who have spoken out against the use of A.I. when it comes to writing. Guillermo del Toro has said that A.I. can’t create art. David Cronenberg believe it could put people out of a job. Even Tim Burton has worried about the mimicking powers of ChatGPT. It’s clear there are more filmmakers worried about the technology than accepting of it.
Again, we’ll just have to wait and see if Paul Schrader will be the first iconic filmmaker to adopt generative A.I. to help write a film.