EastEnders, Corrie and Emmerdale could be written by AI ‘in three years’, director warns
Soaps like EastEnders, Coronation Street, Emmerdale and Hollyoaks could be written by AI bots instead of humans in a few years, says Slow Horse director James Hawes
Soaps such as EastEnders may be made by AI within three years, according to one of Britain’s top film makers.
James Hawes, who directed Gary Oldman spy series Slow Horses, told MPs artificial intelligence would soon be able to make shows without any human input. He added that what has been dubbed “Bot Cotton’s adventures” “may not be as polished” as content created by humans.
James, who is vice-chairman of Directors UK, said bots were so advanced it was impossible to stop their march into all walks of life, including TV. He said actors, writers’ unions and special effects technicians he had spoken to all agreed AI-generated shows would be appearing within three to five years.
“I believe the genie is out of the bottle,’’ he told the Culture, Media and Sport Committee’s inquiry into British film and TV yesterday. It may not be as polished as we’d been used to but that’s how close we’re getting and I find that hard to believe for all the creatives involved.
“I think there are all parts of storytelling and British storytelling that can be filled in – enabled – by this but we have to protect the rights’ holders,’’ he said. It could result in shows being made that would normally never make it off the storyboard as “ambition tends to come at a price”.
He said: “One of the members there started talking about AI and it sent me investigating into how long it would be before a show like Doctors can be made entirely by generative AI and I took a poll with various VFX people….
“I then spoke to some of the legal team who advised Sag(-Aftra) and (the) Writers Guild (of America) over the summer ahead of coming here. And the best guess is between three to five years, somebody (will) be able to say ‘create a scene in an ER room where a doctor comes in, he’s having an affair with a woman so they’re flirting, and somebody’s dying on the table’ and it will start to create it and you will build those and it will be generative AI.”
“It may not be as polished as we’d been used to but that’s how close we’re getting and I find that hard to believe, for all the creatives involved”, he added.
