Film and TV writers 'should not fear' AI, the former chairman of UCLA's screenwriting program says

• Screenwriters should not be afraid of AI, legacy screenwriter Richard Walter told Insider.
• The ex-chairman of UCLA's film program said writers may find AI tools useful despite their flaws.

Should screenwriters be afraid of artificial intelligence? Richard Walter, the 79-year-old retired chair of the screenwriting program at UCLA, doesn't think so.

"Writers should not fear it," Walter, who stepped down as chair in 2018, told Insider regarding AI.

The former screenwriting professor — who wrote early drafts for the 1972 film "American Graffiti" and taught students who went on to write for Steven Spielberg — believes AI will be disruptive to the screenwriting process in ways he doesn't understand just yet. But he doesn't think AI will "eliminate the creation of original narrative expression."

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"Writing and the writing process evolves," Walter, who has been "writing professionally for over half a century," said.

He compares the advent of generative AI tools like OpenAI's ChatGPT to the invention of writing tools like Microsoft Word, saying they could potentially make the jobs of writers easier.

"Just as computers and word processors came to help writers deal with less drudgery and move more quickly and efficiently, so will AI eventually become a tool useful to writers in ways that we won't understand until we get there and engage them," he said.

Screenwriters afraid of AI can learn from it if they keep an open mind, he said. "Perhaps AI has lessons to teach us."

Walter's thoughts on AI come after more than 11,000 film and TV screenwriters went on strike after the Writers Guild of America, or WGA, was unable to agree on a labor contract with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, or AMPTP.

The guild writers are mainly striking in order to secure better wages and fair practices amid the rise of streaming giants. They are also requesting regulation of the use of AI in the film and TV-making process, as some worry the technology could lead to lower wages and eventually replace them.

As part of the WGA's rejected proposal as of May 1, writers want to ensure AI "can't write or rewrite literary material," nor can it "be used as a source material." Writers also want to prevent union-made material from training AI, per the proposal.

The AMPTP rejected that proposal and countered them by "offering annual meetings to discuss advancements in technology."

But Walter believes that screenwriters trying to limit the use of AI is moot — as they will have to learn to work with the technology.

"Writers wanting to make it illegal would be the equivalent of buggy-whip manufacturers trying to outlaw the automobile," he said.

Still, Walter recognizes that AI bots aren't perfect. He is familiar with critiques that ChatGPT can generate text filled with "inaccuracies regarding data and facts." He's also aware that AI can "compose dramatic narratives" that lack "nuance, subtlety, and depth of character" — such as a hypothetical script of the series finale of HBO's "Succession" that Insider generated with ChatGPT and ran by Walter.

Those flaws, though, are that much different from those of humans, he said.

He points out that AI is known "to waffle," "hedge its bets," and make "on-the-one hand..but-on-the-other" statements that lack authority.

"Isn't that true also for material written by flesh-and-blood humans?" he pondered.

For Walter, the more "profound" question is less about the current capabilities of AI and more about what's to come.

"Will the day arrive when AI can write better than humans?" he asked. "I don't know."

Correction: May 10, 2023 — An earlier version of this story misstated Walter's role as chairman. He is UCLA's former chairman, not the current one.