As a renowned film director, critic, and screenwriter, Paul Schrader has spent decades honing his craft. Now, after exploring the capabilities of AI, he claims that it can write better movies than humans. In a Facebook post, Schrader shared that he asked the language model ChatGPT for ideas for movies, using names like himself, Paul Thomas Anderson, Quentin Tarantino, and Ingmar Bergman. To his surprise, the AI generated original and fleshed-out ideas, asking him whether writers need to spend months searching for a good idea when AI can provide one in seconds.
The post sparked a heated discussion, with some people questioning the origin of the AI’s ideas, citing that they are simply aggregated from existing content. Others felt that AI-written films would eliminate the human element of cinema, while some pointed out the irony of Schrader’s existential crisis about AI, given his own work often explores troubled characters experiencing self-destructive tendencies.
Schrader’s fans know him for his work on iconic films like Taxi Driver, Raging Bull, and The Last Temptation of Christ, as well as his more recent projects like The Canyons. His latest post has left many wondering if the future of filmmaking lies with AI, and what implications that might have for the creative process and the industry as a whole.