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<\/a> <\/p>\nIt sounds like a Paul Schrader<\/a> movie. But the \u201cwriter\u201d of this script is \u201cAlex Indigo,\u201d which is the pseudonym director and writer Paul Schrader gave to ChatGPT<\/a>. He prompted OpenAI\u2019s generative chat bot app by asking what it thinks of his own work and to help create him an idea for \u201ca Paul Schrader movie.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cNot bad,\u201d Schrader thought. <\/p>\n Schrader, working from a handful of legal pad paper, shared these notes he got via ChatGPT as part of his keynote address during Day 2 of AI<\/a> on the Lot, an AI convention being held Thursday, May 28 in Culver City at the Amazon MGM Studios lot. Schrader even went further<\/a>, asking it to conceive of the opening and ending scenes for the film<\/a>, to give him some alternate title ideas, and to even come up with the protagonist\u2019s name. From a list of 10 options, Schrader said he liked \u201cElias Vane,\u201d which sounds a little like the Biblical \u201cElijah\u201d and reflects the character\u2019s tortured vanity. He also wanted a title that had \u201cmore hard Schrader energy.\u201d When he got an outline for the opening scene, he said it struck him as very familiar, not just something that resembled his tropes, but also was writing in his own tongue.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is second-rate Schrader,\u201d he said of the app\u2019s output, \u201cbut it\u2019s going to be first-rate Schrader soon enough. And it\u2019s already first rate \u2018NCIS.’\u201d<\/p>\n This will not be Schrader\u2019s next movie, but he teased that he is working on a movie based on an older script he had lying around, and he\u2019s likely to lean on AI in some fashion to get it made<\/a>. He said he usually sits on an idea for four to six months before he can know if it\u2019s something worth making, but \u201cAlex Indigo\u201d came up with the idea in a matter of minutes.<\/p>\n Of all the directors who would be likely to embrace generative AI as a creative tool, the writer of \u201cTaxi Driver\u201d and the director of \u201cFirst Reformed\u201d would likely not be on anyone\u2019s Bingo card. But Schrader surprised some of his cadre of other writers when he recently revealed that he would be the keynote speaker at AI on the Lot<\/a>. He opened his speech saying he got a \u201ctsunami\u201d of responses on his Facebook page, much of it backlash \u201cas if I shot the family dog.\u201d <\/p>\n He explained that the fear artists seem to have about this new advancement of technology is that, quoting an Israeli writer, it\u2019s the first technology humans have created that doesn\u2019t necessarily do what we tell it to do. And the tech is moving so fast, they feel like they\u2019re barely \u201ca step ahead of the monster.\u201d<\/p>\n Schrader wonders why there hasn\u2019t been more of an embrace of the technology. He hears what he feels is pretty generic synth scores in true crime documentaries on streaming and wonders why anyone themselves would actually bother composing something so basic when AI can do it so much more easily? He said he watched \u201cWicked\u201d on the plane over here and wondered why they\u2019re paying countless extras a day rate, clothe them, feed them, and hear them complain when it still doesn\u2019t look great and we can just \u201cmake them\u201d instead?<\/p>\n \u201cAI does not create,\u201d he explained, but it does combine, and he added that while you can make the argument that\u2019s what artists do anyway, you still need someone to come up with an actual idea first.<\/p>\n But he wondered more about the practicality of AI and asked \u201cwhat do we have film schools for\u201d if the idea is to only show them old movies when kids really want to know how they\u2019ll find a job. Schrader says he sees AI not being used as \u201cjacked up special effects on steroids\u201d that can make elaborate monsters and vistas but that it will be a way for Hollywood to revitalize old IP. He came up with an idea for a new episode of \u201cI Love Lucy,\u201d one in which Ethel is accidentally given a laxative by a doctor and needs to use Lucy\u2019s bathroom, all while Lucy is serving appetizers to Desi\u2019s guests.<\/p>\n \u201cWill AI think in the way I just did? I suspect it will,\u201d Schrader said. <\/p>\n