‘Philadelphia’ Screenwriter Ron Nyswaner Warns Hollywood About AI, Streaming Algorithms

The Oscar-nominated screenwriter of the movie Philadelphia is the latest Hollywood figure to sound the alarm on AI, while also warning about the dangers of soulless streaming algorithms.

Ron Nyswaner, who also created the new Showtime limited series Fellow Travelers, spoke at the recent Peabody Awards in Los Angeles.

“Art is about making people think and feel,” Nyswaner said, according to a Variety report. “I hope that we keep telling artists to be more provocative and ambitious and don’t serve some algorithm that doesn’t really care if we move people to think or feel.”

AI and streaming algorithms are now a fact of life in Hollywood, with studios looking to cut costs and streamline the creative process by reducing or cutting out the human component.

As Breitbart News reported, OpenAI recently made the rounds to Hollywood studios and talent agencies in a bid to promote Sora, the text-to-video generative AI application that its developers hope will revolutionize the way Hollywood makes movies and TV shows.

Sora will theoretically enable filmmakers to generate entire scenes — featuring “actors,” virtual sets, and even simulated camera movements — simply by typing in a text description of what they want.

Ron Nyswaner’s view on AI appears to differ significantly from that of Hollywood star Ashton Kutcher, who recently predicted AI will improve Hollywood movies and TV shows by forcing the studios to compete against user-generated content.

Many notable filmmakers have publicly condemned the rise of AI as a potentially destructive force — not just for Hollywood, but for civilization.

James Cameron warned that AI will lead to a Judgement Day-style cataclysm with out-of-control algorithms seizing the methods of warfare.

Blade Runner director Ridley Scott called AI bad for humanity, comparing it to a “technical hydrogen bomb.”

Christopher Nolan said A.I. is about to reach an “Oppenheimer moment” —  or a point of no return — and that people need to be “held accountable” for its development.

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