CinemaTaxi Driver screenwriter defends the use of AI in creating film ideasPaul Schrader revealed that he asked ChatGPT for plot suggestions and the ideas given by the tool were ‘original’ and ‘developed’By Editorial Staff

The renowned filmmaker and screenwriter Paul Schrader — known for its involvement in projects such as Taxi Driver (1976), The American Gigolo (1980) and, more recently, Oh Canada (2024) — expressed support for the use of artificial intelligence tools such as ChatGPT in developing ideas for films.

The director used his Facebook profile to say that he had done an experiment and the result left him “scared”: “I just asked chatgpt for an idea for the film Paul Schrader. After Paul Thomas Anderson. After Quentin Tarantino. After Harmony Korine. After Ingmar Bergman. After [Roberto] Rossellini. [Fritz] Lang. [Martin] Scorsese. [F. W.] Murnau. [Frank] Capra. [ John] Ford. [Steven] Speilberg. [David] Lynch. Every idea chatgpt had (in a few seconds) was good. And original. And developed. Why should writers sit around for months looking for a good idea when AI can provide one in seconds?”

The followers of Schraderhowever, questioned the screenwriter’s stance on the idea, as the use of artificial intelligence has generated several debates. “Paulis everything ok?”, “I think Paul got hacked” and “Jesus, Paul… stop promoting this s***, please”, were some of the comments.

He also said that “in five seconds, he responded with grades as good or better than I have ever received”, in relation to the feedback given by the AI ​​to his tests. “There are better ideas, there are more efficient ways to execute them,” he wrote. “This is an existential moment, similar to what [Garry] Kasparov felt in 1997 when he realized that Deep Blue would beat him at chess.”