‘Taxi Driver’ screenwriter calls AI ‘smarter’ and ‘better’ than Oscar-nominated writer
Screenwriter Paul Schrader, known for his acclaimed work such as Taxi Driver, Raging Bull and First Reformed, shared his apparent endorsement of artificial intelligence. He was surprised.
In a series of posts last week, the Oscar nominee marveled at the prowess of AI and Chatgpt.
“I just realized that AI is smarter than me. There are better ideas, and there are more efficient ways to execute them,” he wrote on January 16.
“Taxi Driver” writer and director Paul Schrader surprised fans with his interest in artificial intelligence. (Screen Collection/Loic Venance/AFP via Getty Images)
What is artificial intelligence (AI)?
“It was an existential moment, similar to what Kasparov felt in 1997 when he realized that Deep Blue was going to beat him at chess,” he continued. Russian chess grandmaster Garry Kasparov Kasparov failed in the competition.
Later that same day, Schrader (Schrader film executive).”
On January 17, Schrader announced that he was “blown away” by Chatgpt’s capabilities.
Paul Schrader says he sees AI’s capabilities as “an existential moment.” (Diapasupil/Getty Images)
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He wrote: “I just asked Chatgpt ‘Paul Schrader movie ideas’. Then, Thomas Tarantino (Quentin) original.
“Why do writers sit for months looking for a good idea when AI delivers one in seconds?”
“I just realized that AI is smarter than me. There are better ideas and there are more efficient ways to execute them.”
That last post, as well as others, generated a lot of discussion in the comments, with many commenting on their surprise that a veteran screenwriter and director would express such interest in the technology.
Paul Schrader had an extra decade in his career and was nominated for his 2017 film Reformation. (Jamie McCarthy/Getty Images)
What is chatgpt?
“It’s not that great, Paul. I got the first impression and I did the same thing. But read some passages and you’ll see – it’s an empty vessel. Zero emotional content (in art, that’s important ),” one person wrote.
Another said, referring to Schrader’s “Taxi Driver” script: “I doubt an AI will ever write a lasting and resonant line because ‘there’s going to be a real rainstorm one day that’s going to be in Wash all the scum off the streets.”
“Why do writers sit for months looking for a good idea when AI delivers one in seconds?”
One person called out the need for AI models to be trained on existing materials, writing: “In order to do this, there must first be a Paul Schrader, Paul Thomas Anderson, Quentin Talon Quentin Tarantino, etc. You will be prompted that these writers are not putting their work out there because the AI doesn’t even know about them.”
Center Paul Schrader wrote “Taxi Driver,” starring Robert De Niro and starring Martin Scorsese (one of his most famous films) 1) Directing. (Neilson Barnard/Getty Images)
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Given that he shared a post about AI, several people also joked that Schrader’s page had been hacked, with one asking “Did an AI write this?”
Schrader also praised the 2013 film Her, which starred Joaquin Phoenix as a man with an AI operating system voiced by Scarlett Johansson.
He said of the film: “This is more relevant, prescient and chilling than it was ten years ago.
In his reflections on AI, Paul Schrader praises the 2013 film Her, starring Scarlett Johansson as the voice of an AI operating system. (Getty Images)
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The career of the “American Gentleman” writer and director shows no signs of slowing down. He released the drama Oh Canada last year, starring Richard Gere and Jacob Elordi, and has a noir about “sexual obsession” in Variety Film, titled “Not a Composer”.
