Artifical Intelligence continues to be a cause of contention amidstthe ongoing strikes. While both the Writers Guild of America (WGA) and Screen Actors Guild - American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA) have their own list of demands, the two unions do share some commonalities. Among them, protection from Artificial Intelligence tools that threaten their livelihoods. The latest creator to weigh in on the highly debated topic is horror iconStephen King, who toldRolling Stonethat he does not believe AI can replace writers– at least not in the near future. His reasoning? AI is not sentient, and real creativity can not exist without emotion.
“Well, let me just say that I get the worries about AI as it applies to screenwriters and to writers who are involved with writing for TV. Because there’s this fear, I think this is unstated fear, that AI has sort of been writing sitcoms all along and some of the drama series, too, because they’re pretty formulaic. They’re pretty by the numbers. But as far as AI goes and books written by AI, scripts written by AI, what can you do about it? You might as well be King Canute trying to turn back the tide because it’s going to happen.”
The Shiningscribe went on to compare the work of writers and AI, likening it to “Budweiser and some generic beer”:
“But I find it very, very difficult to believe that AI — until it achieves real sentience, which is a ways away yet — can write anything. I’ve read poems by AI that were in the style of say, William Blake, and they have the God stuff and the lamb stuff and all this, but it ain’t the same. It ain’t even close. It’s like the difference between Budweiser and some generic beer. So both of them get you a little bit tingly, but it ain’t the same.”
Related:Guillermo Del Toro Joins AI Discussion: ‘I Don’t Fear Artificial Intelligence, I Fear Natural Stupidity’
Hollywood Weighs in on AI Debate
King, whose celebrated writings includeCarrie, The Shawshank RedemptionandIt(all of which have been adapted for the big screen), has previously disclosed his thoughts on AI. Just last month, in an essay published byThe Atlantic, King elaborated on a previous report that claimed his works had been among those utilized to train AI. In that essay, King shared that he did not see AI an immediate threat but compared worries over AI to D.F. Jones’Colossus:
“Does it make me nervous? Do I feel my territory encroached upon? Not yet, probably because I’ve reached a fairly advanced age. But I will tell you that this subject always makes me think of that most prescient novel,Colossus, by D. F. Jones. In it, the world-spanning computer does become sentient and tells its creator, Forbin, that in time, humanity will come to love and respect it. (The way, I suppose, many of us love and respect our phones.) Forbin cries, ‘Never!’ But the narrator has the last word, and a single word is all it takes: ‘Never?'”
King joins a growing list of celebrities sharing their opinions on AI. As Natasha Lyonne earned an Emmy nod forPoker Face, she focused less on that accomplishment and instead used the moment to voice her concerns about AI, noting that while it is a tool that can be utilized, creatives don’t “want to give away our rights and free will of how to use it over to people that are just going to be in the interest of doing things faster and cheaper.”
Oppenheimerdirector Christopher Nolan believes that, if used correctly, AI could be a powerful tool for visual effects, while filmmakerGuillermo del Toro said he did not fear AI, but rather “natural stupidity.”
