For months now, artificial intelligence applications have been evolving very quickly and finding all kinds of uses, shaping the day-to-day life of users. The fact that they are available to everyone has completely changed the digital landscape, but it has also caused some reflection (and almost concern) in many sectors. One of them is that of the scriptwriters. Like all creative work, the prospect that AI can generate text and audiovisual content is terrifying for professionals, who fear that their work is expendable.
So much so, that to weather the situation and catch up with the coming new era, the Writer’s Guild of America, the union representing film and television writers, has proposed allow AIs like ChatGPT to write scripts as long as humans supervise it and get credit for their contributions.
The guild had already warned a long time ago that it was going to regulate the use of AI in what refers to the writing process, something that generated many doubts in the sector. But contrary to what was thought, the organization has not completely banned the use of this technology as many other industries have done. On the contrary, they are going to allow, according to Variety, a writer to use artificial intelligence to help write a script without having to share writing credit or split rights.
How will it work?
The requirements for doing so are that writers are involved in the development process, that the AI system is transparent, that AI tools are not used to replace writers, and that writers retain creative control over their work. For example, a studio might give the writer an AI-generated script to rewrite or polish, and the writer is still considered the author of the project.
The WGA proposal has some theory and logic behind it. His proposal states that AI-generated material will not be considered “literary material” or “source material”, terms that are key to assigning writing credits and which decide residual compensation. For what you understand better: “Literary material” is what a writer produces (stories, scripts, dialogues, sketches, etc.). If an AI program cannot produce “literary material”, then it cannot be considered a “writer” on a project.
On the other hand, “Source Material” refers to items such as novels, plays, and magazine articles, on which a screenplay can be based. If a script is based on original material, it is not considered an “original script.” Just like a writer you can also get “screenplay by” credit, instead of “written by”.
As Variety indicates, the latter entitles you to the full remainder of the project, while the former only gives you 75%. That means if ChatGPT can’t write “source material”, the Writers Guild is suggesting that a writer could adapt an AI-written short story and still get “written by” credit.
Can ChatGPT write a good script?
The question that arises at the end is that. Right now, the WGA decision doesn’t seem to indicate that AIs will outperform the writers’ jobs. But the debate is whether AI-generated scripts are good enough. And yes, they are. In this Medium article, writer Sung Kim sets out to write the script for an epic fantasy film, and the result is amazing. Not only does the algorithm create all the characters and make them unique, but it weaves together a whole background context so that both the story and the progress of the characters make sense.
Also, the more AI is used, the better the algorithm becomes. So if more and more writers accept this “invitation” and use artificial intelligence to help, the system will become more capable. That means that the more scripts that are written with AI, the better they will be in the future.
Images: Ron Lach (Pexels)
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