Hollywood director Steven Spielberg reveals his AI concerns

Steven Spielberg has shared his thoughts on AI in the movie business.

Steven Spielberg is “withholding judgment on AI”.

The 79-year-old filmmaker – who is the highest-grossing movie director of all time – has revealed that he’s waiting to see how AI is used before forming a firm judgement.

Spielberg – who became a household name with the summer blockbuster Jaws in 1975 – said on the IMO podcast: “I’m kind of withholding judgment on AI until I see really how it is being used.”

The Hollywood director observed that AI can be an effective tool “that can create and find solutions to medical issues” and in education.

However, Spielberg is much more doubtful of AI’s capabilities in the creative industries.

The director – who previously helmed Jurassic Park, Saving Private Ryan, Schindler’s List, and Amistad – explained: “Where I don’t love AI is where it takes a position, or there’s an empty chair at a writer’s table, and there’s six writers and an empty chair and there’s a computer in front of the empty chair and it is the seventh writer.

“I’m not willing to substitute, you know, because I don’t really believe in its sentience. I don’t believe there is any substitute for the soul. I don’t think that is an algorithm that’s inventible, if there is such a word.

“I think a computer that thinks it feels more than we feel is anathema to the way I was raised and how I’ll practice my own trade of producing and directing in the future.”

Spielberg believes AI can perform some “legwork” for people like himself. However, he noted that AI shouldn’t have “the final word on anything creative”.

He said: “I don’t want AI involved in that way.

“If AI wants to help me find locations, that’s great. Saves us all a lot of legwork. But don’t tell me that I don’t have the right antagonist in this movie.

“Don’t tell me how to write my dialogue for this character. Don’t tell me where the camera has to go. And also don’t tell me what the set should look like, unless AI is simply a tool in a large tool chest of the production designer and just one of many tools the production designer uses…”

Spielberg suggested that AI should be used as a complementary tool, rather than something that should be leaned on too heavily.

The filmmaker – who directed the 2001 sci-fi movie A.I. Artificial Intelligence – said: “Use AI as a tool, but do not use AI as the final word on anything creative. That’s where I draw the line.”