10,000 hours. That’s how long it takes, according to author Malcolm Gladwell, to master a craft. Or, if you’re an AI, a matter of months, weeks, or days.
When I read that ChatGPT is now such an accomplished writer that it has already authored hundreds of books on Amazon’s self-publishing service, I had a bit of a freakout. To be clear, OpenAI’s groundbreaking chatbot doesn’t publish these tomes alone. People work with ChatGPT to develop themes, stories and chapters for their books.
My immediate reaction was, “I’m doomed.” But as the freezing chill of this cold reality subsided, I thought of something else. Anyone can write and publish a book, and most won’t be very good.
Why should we assume that ChatGPT, learning from a lot of writing online, can write at, say, Stephen King’s level – or even at my level?
In addition to writing for technology publications for over 30 years, I have dabbled in fiction – mostly children’s books, which I have written, illustrated and published on the Kindle self-publishing platform KDP.
So what took me decades, ChatGPT did in a few months.
I won’t lie; I was a little depressed. This deluge of AI content is likely to overwhelm human products on the same platform. It also destroys the notion of talent as you might have to write a book, publish it and get some attention. I fully expect a book authored by ChatGPT The New York Times Best-seller list by the end of the year.
Perhaps.
Screenplay by ChatGPT
What occurred to me, as I wallowed in the realization that I might never produce anything good enough to sell more than a single copy to my mother, was that I had made an assumption.
Who says ChatGPT writing is good?
For most of my interactions with OpenAI’s platform, I have found ChatGPT to be informative, smart, polite, funny, and occasionally inappropriate. But I’ve never wondered about his neologism.
To test my theory, I decided to ask ChatGPT to help me write a movie script. I gave him a very brief synopsis, some characters and even some casting, but other than that I let him write as he saw fit.
A script needs structure, but also, when it comes to dialogue, the right use of words. It also pushes the envelope onto the plot. Could ChatGPT reach the level of a script that needs to be seen and read?
My instructions were for a new one star trek Franchise film starring Captain Picard and Captain Kirk (each played by their original actors Patrick Stewart and William Shatner). The plot would revolve around their time travel to meet and then deliver dilithium crystals (opens in new tab) be used as a new global energy source by 2023. This would set in motion a climate change reversal (in a twist, their actions would allow the creation of the Federation, meaning they don’t change the timeline, only amplify it, but I digress). I have left all other casting, plot and action decisions to ChatGPT.
I have to say, ChatGPT totally knows how to write a script with most of the necessary, albeit skeletal, on-screen instructions. It also did a passable recreation of Kirk and Picard’s banter (last seen in the first Star Trek: Generations (opens in new tab)). Here’s a little foretaste:
KIRK: What’s going on, Picard?
PICARD: I’m not sure, Kirk. We’re investigating a space anomaly when you suddenly appeared.
KIRK: Anomaly? That’s how you can describe it.
This computer reads all blogs
The other thing that became clear was that ChatGPT had already inherited all of the Trek lore from the original series and Star Trek: The Next Generation (opens in new tab). The script quickly employed familiar tropes and characters, including the omniscient Q (played by John deLance (opens in new tab)), which sets in motion the quest to save Earth.
It threw Emma Stone (opens in new tab) as a scientist and added later Idris Elba (opens in new tab).
The problem with the first draft was that it was so short that it lacked a real second and third act. It seemed to jump from premise to conclusion as if in a credits race.
That was my first hint that writing with ChatGPT isn’t about telling the AI bot what you want and then letting it write the whole thing. Our first screenplay felt like a first-year film student’s rough draft.
I’ve asked ChatGPT to expand the script, add more characters from one of the two original series, and add a roadblock in the form of terrorists trying to steal the dilithium crystals before Kirk and Picard can complete their mission.
At first ChatGPT seemed to lose interest and delivered half the script. When prompted, it apologized and spat out the rest. This time the two captains failed. What kind of star trek movie is this? I thought.
I asked ChatGPT to rewrite with the spin of Q to take the captains out of time so they can go back to 5 minutes before terrorists blast half of the crystals and make it impossible for them to complete their mission.
The steam goes out
At this point, ChatGPT seemed to forget that it was writing a movie script and only provided paragraphs of non-dialogue text describing the plot. It felt rushed and like ChatGPT was bored with this exercise and just wanted it done.
Although I don’t want to publish the script in full for fear of inadvertent copyright infringement, here’s an excerpt of the rushed conclusion:
Together, Kirk, Picard, Emma Stone’s character, and Starfleet officers work to install the dilithium crystals in power plants around the world, with the ultimate goal of ending the world’s reliance on fossil fuels and averting the catastrophic events that led to it would have doomed the earth.
As they work, Kirk and Picard find themselves in a strange new world surrounded by strange technology and unfamiliar customs. They must navigate 21st-century New York, blend in with the locals, and adjust to a world very different from the one they know.
I ended up with no usable script, which was a relief.
Not only is ChatGPT not a great writer, it also lacks the energy and determination to create content at scale. ChatGPT has no burning ambition to be an author – it has no ambition at all. If you want to write a novel or a screenplay, you can’t just run out of breath. ChatGPT is also missing as a collaborator. His prose and ideas developed in quality and maturity. I could feel he was running out of ideas, which is why he kept trying to finish the story early.
This is not the profile of a future great author.
I feel like anything ChatGPT helps people publish is mostly garbage and human authors and screenwriters are safe – for now.
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