Emma Thompson hits out at AI involvement in writing process and tells it to "f**k off"
"I’m so annoyed."
Emma Thompson has made her feelings on artificial intelligence clear.
The Oscar-winning actor and screenwriter spoke about the technology during an appearance on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, describing it as an “intense irritation” amid her writing process.
“Intense irritation. I cannot begin to tell you,” Thompson replied when asked her thoughts on AI. “Because I write longhand on a pad. Old script, actually. Because I believe that there’s a connection between the brain and the hand.”
She continued: “So it’s very important to me. And then when I’ve written something, I will put it into a Word document. And recently, the Word document is constantly saying, ‘Would you like me to rewrite that for you?’
"And so I end up just going, 'I don’t need you to rewrite what I’ve just written, will you f**k off?! Just fuck off!' I’m so annoyed."
The CBS late-night host then jokingly suggested that Thompson show the computer the Oscar she won in 1995 for Sense and Sensibility.
“I don’t think that it would care,” Thompson told Colbert.
The actor – who's currently on screens in Apple TV thriller Down Cemetery Road – went on to recall that while she was writing the Sense and Sensibility screenplay, the computer changed the entire script into hieroglyphs.
Thompson said she panicked and went over to Stephen Fry’s house in her dressing gown, who spent eight hours trying to recover her script.
"And it came out in one long sentence,” she explained, adding: “I had to re-do it. The computer had taken it and hidden it… like it had done it on purpose.”
Thompson isn’t the only Hollywood figure to speak out against the use of AI in filmmaking, with Guillermo del Toro saying earlier this week that he would “rather die” than work with the technology.
He told NPR: "The other day, somebody wrote me an email, said, ‘What is your stance on AI?’ And my answer was very short. I said, ‘I’d rather die.’”
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Molly Moss is a Trends Writer for Radio Times, covering the latest trends across TV, film and more. She has an MA in Newspaper Journalism and has previously written for publications including The Guardian, The Times and The Sun Online.
