Writer/director Aaron Sorkin made it clear on Wednesday that he’s against using artificial intelligence to write screenplays, saying he predicts that people will appreciate the works of “humans more.”
During the Adobe Summit 2023, the 61-year-old writer said that he didn’t think AI could write a show like his popular TV series “The West Wing” because it’s a machine that’s simply being fed previous work, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Aaron Sorkin Argues AI Couldn’t Write ‘The West Wing’ https://t.co/XKgKvrkYI9
— The Hollywood Reporter (@THR) March 23, 2023
“Whether it’s that — there’s roughly the same kind of software for writing a hit song — I assume that they have loaded into a machine a zillion very successful screenplays, whether they’re thrillers or Westerns or romantic comedies,” the director and writer said.
“And a computer can then turn out something similar, but a computer didn’t write those screenplays that are being fed into the machine in the first place,” he added. “And I think you’re going to enjoy things done by humans more.”
“The Social Network” writer explained that while he has no problem with the technology being used as a “co-pilot,” his attitude comes from the fact that “I have to sit in a room with people who are experts at it and not know anything … I feel left behind.”
AI has been the focus of recent Writers Guild of America negotiations, the outlet noted.
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The union has pushed to prohibit the use of the technology by streaming sites and studios for source material, as well as AI-written works and AI-rewritten works being covered under its contract.
Sorkin recently made headlines when the Hollywood veteran revealed that he suffered a stroke in November, calling it a “loud wake-up call,” as previously reported.
The director told The New York Times that his blood pressure got so high, doctors told him “you’re supposed to be dead.”
“Mostly it was a loud wake-up call,” Sorkin said. “I thought I was one of those people who could eat whatever he wanted, smoke as much as he wanted, and it’s not going to affect me. Boy, was I wrong.”
“There was a minute when I was concerned that I was never going to be able to write again, and I was concerned in the short-term that I wasn’t going to be able to continue writing ‘Camelot.’”
His latest project and first Broadway musical is called “Camelot,” which is scheduled to debut on April 13.
Related: Writer, Director Aaron Sorkin Reveals He Had A Stroke Last Fall: ‘It Was A Loud Wake-Up Call’