Nicolas Winding Refn Tried Using ChatGPT to Write a Script. It Told Him to ‘Seek Professional Help’

Nicolas Winding Refn has taken ChatGPT for a drive, and he’s not impressed.

Discussing all things strike- and AI-related, the “Drive” and “Only God Forgives” director told IndieWire that artificial intelligence is only good for producing “empty” content devoid of artistic meaning. In fact, ChatGPT even encouraged Refn to seek psychological help after he broached unsavory topics for screenwriting purposes while using the AI bot.

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“If you start asking questions that are controversial or themes that are not acceptable anymore, [ChatGPT] shuts down,” Refn said. “I very quickly ran into the problem that every time I would ask it things, it came back saying ‘I’m not able to comment on that’ or ‘seek professional help’ or ‘call this hotline,’ almost. And I was like, well, maybe that’s the problem. That’s the whole reason why we’re doing it is wrong.”

He added, “So for me, it’s almost like if your work is approved by a chat, that’s a great alert system to rewrite. It was very interesting trying it because I thought I was going to use it creatively, but I really ran into always disagreeing with it. So I just stopped using it, and that was that.”

Refn said that AI — a major sticking point for WGA and SAG-AFTRA members currently on strike over how it could affect their livelihoods — should be viewed as a “tool” for creatives to enhance their work and not to replace it.

“Technology has helped and has expanded and given opportunities. So I look more at AI as a tool. But obviously, if you are using it as a substitute because what you create can be so equally multiplied, then that’s a very dangerous factor,” he said. “But it also comes back to why are we creating content, and why is this content so easy to duplicate?”

Refn continued, “You know, we have never made more content than ever I think in our history of content producing, and I believe most people spend their time on figuring out what not to watch rather than to watch. So, isn’t maybe that also part of the problem. I think it’s a much more philosophical question that is more complex than just narrowing it down to profits because it all just becomes about money at the moment.”

According to Refn, AI creates the highest level of marketable content that in effect is saying nothing and therefore appealing to everybody.

“The emptier it is, the easier it is to just multiply,” he said. “I’m by no means a tech expert. It’s the same thing when everyone was just ordering from Amazon and people are not going to the store of the local community — what do you think is going to happen? They close, and then one entity controls all that’s not healthy. So it’s also up to people themselves of how they engage and how they interact because if they don’t, yes, technology will take over in certain fields.”

The “Neon Demon” auteur added, “We shouldn’t even be thinking of it because if you create singularity, you can never duplicate that. So, stay true to yourself. Isn’t that what we should be discussing instead, besides obviously sharing and wealth? That’s a no-brainer. But maybe we need to then start talking about why we’re making things and how is that really making the world a better place? Because what we should all be saying is if you create from your heart, your soul in your singular vision, then [AI] can never […] make a copy of that, a copy of the real you.”

Refn concluded, “It’s always what these science fiction shows are about when you have AI people and robotics that there’s always this lack of, well, it’s never you never the real you. It’s a copy of you, and that’s what we should be telling our children, to be true to yourself. Don’t flow with the system, don’t try to be like anyone else. Just be you, the one individual thing that can ever be taken away. We should cherish that. We should support that.”

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