Steven Soderbergh ‘not afraid’ of AI: ‘No life experience, never had a hangover’

Steven Soderbergh isn’t losing any sleep over the rise of artificial intelligence in Hollywood.

The director of the limited series of “Full Circle” told it. Variety during the Tribeca Festival that the AI ​​”absolutely” cannot finish a complete script on its own.

“I may be the Neville Chamberlain of this topic, but I’m not afraid of AI in this specific context. He has no experience in life,” Soderbergh said. “He has never been hungover. He has never cooked a meal for anyone he loved. He has never been afraid to come home late at night. Someone he went to high school with 20 years ago was incredibly successful. I’m not afraid of that. It’s just another tool.

“Magic Mike’s Last Dance” director added, “If it helps you finish a first draft of a screenplay, great. But can she finish that thing and make it awesome on her own? Absolutely not. To this day, it doesn’t keep me up at night.

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One claim of the ongoing WGA strike is the menacing rise of AI in the writers room. Soderbergh spoke about the strike itself, saying, “All I will say is that we are at a critical time in the industry in a number of different areas, which is why it is so complicated. But I definitely would like more information on how things are viewed and monetized coming from the other side. The black box of it all doesn’t make me feel comfortable.

‘Black Mirror’ creator Charlie Brooker recently admitted that he tried to use ChatGPT to write an episode of the tech-driven psychological thriller anthology series.

“The first thing I did was type ‘generate ‘Black Mirror’ episode’ and something comes up that, at first glance, seems plausible, but at second glance, it’s bullshit,” Brooker said. “Because all that’s been done is look up all the ‘Black Mirror’ episode synopses and put them together. So if you dig a little deeper, you go, ‘Oh, there’s actually no real original thinking here.’”

He noted, similar to Soderbergh, that ChatGPT functioned as a tool to point out overlapping themes between episodes.

Soderbergh’s upcoming Max limited series “Full Circle” centers on a botched kidnapping that uncovers an underworld of secrets in present-day New York City. Written by Ed Solomon, he stars Zazie Beetz, Claire Danes, Timothy Olyphant, Dennis Quad and Jharrel Jerome. The series will debut on July 13.