Charlie Kaufman has weighed in on the debate about AI's place in Hollywood amid the ongoing WGA/SAG-AFTRA strikes.
As the director of I'm Thinking of Ending Things and writer on Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Adaptation and Being John Malkovich, Kaufman led a masterclass in the main hall of the Bosnian Cultural Center at the Sarajevo Film Festival, warning attendees that "once you give that up and allow the studios to use AI to write their screenplay, there's no going back."
"Then there's no hope because AI can't create a moment of humanity," he shared [via Deadline]. "As long as people are doing it and there's that struggle, then there's always a chance that something will come out of it that will be worth something to human beings."
He continued, "At this point, the only thing that makes money is garbage. It's just fascinating. It makes a fortune, and that's the bottom line. It's very seductive to the studios but also to the people who engage and become the makers of that garbage, especially if they're lauded for the garbage because they don't have to look inward or think long about what they're doing."
Kaufman added, perhaps tipping his hat to the great Marvel debate, "The diet is so corrupted and has been for so long. It's like if you eat shit all your life, you want shit. If you eat processed food, you crave it. And you wouldn't if you hadn't been fed it all your life. That's what the movie machine does and I find it really offensive. It makes me angry."
He said, however, that even "writers have been trained to eat and make the garbage too," and "as long as they are in that arena making that shit, then you might as well have AI do it."
Meanwhile, in the world of AI art, Universal Music and Google are in talks about an AI music monetization deal, and Grimes launched an AI vocal service based on her own voice.
As the director of I'm Thinking of Ending Things and writer on Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Adaptation and Being John Malkovich, Kaufman led a masterclass in the main hall of the Bosnian Cultural Center at the Sarajevo Film Festival, warning attendees that "once you give that up and allow the studios to use AI to write their screenplay, there's no going back."
"Then there's no hope because AI can't create a moment of humanity," he shared [via Deadline]. "As long as people are doing it and there's that struggle, then there's always a chance that something will come out of it that will be worth something to human beings."
He continued, "At this point, the only thing that makes money is garbage. It's just fascinating. It makes a fortune, and that's the bottom line. It's very seductive to the studios but also to the people who engage and become the makers of that garbage, especially if they're lauded for the garbage because they don't have to look inward or think long about what they're doing."
Kaufman added, perhaps tipping his hat to the great Marvel debate, "The diet is so corrupted and has been for so long. It's like if you eat shit all your life, you want shit. If you eat processed food, you crave it. And you wouldn't if you hadn't been fed it all your life. That's what the movie machine does and I find it really offensive. It makes me angry."
He said, however, that even "writers have been trained to eat and make the garbage too," and "as long as they are in that arena making that shit, then you might as well have AI do it."
Meanwhile, in the world of AI art, Universal Music and Google are in talks about an AI music monetization deal, and Grimes launched an AI vocal service based on her own voice.
