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Breaking Bad creator Vince Gilligan calls AI a 'plagiarism machine'

Gilligan describes AI as 'a lot of horseshit' in a new interview.

October 5, 2023 3:20 PM

Variety

Vince Gilligan is most known for creating the iconic series Breaking Bad, but has had a prolific career across film and television since the early 1990s. Like the rest of Hollywood’s writers, Gilligan is returning to work after the 148-day WGA strike. In some of his first public comments since the strike’s end, Gilligan slammed artificial intelligence and ChatGPT, calling it a “plagiarism machine” and a “marvel of marketing.”

Vince Gilligan was speaking with Variety in a recent interview when the subject of AI in Hollywood came up. For those unfamiliar, the use and implementation of AI in the writing process was a major sticking point in the negotiations between the Writers Guild of America and the AMPTP. Gilligan didn’t mince any words when asked about the technology and its impact on his profession.

Jessie Pinkman and Walter White wearing yellow medical suits and holding beer bottles. — Source: AMC

When I first became aware of ChatGPT or whatever it’s called, it scared the living hell out of me. I thought, ‘We’re done for as a race.’ I don’t mean in the ‘Terminator’ sense, like they’re going to start exterminating us. But who wants to live in a world where creativity is given over to machines? There goes my job. I had all those fears. And as the last six or nine months have progressed, I’ve somewhat kept abreast of this ‘marvel’ of AI. I think it’s a lot of horseshit. It’s a giant plagiarism machine, in its current form. I think ChatGPT knows what it’s writing like a toaster knows that it’s making toast. There’s no intelligence — it’s a marvel of marketing. It may well become sentient and truly intelligent. Down the line there may be a moment of singularity where it actually becomes a threat, but right now it’s just a plagiarism machine. It’s a bunch of billionaires trying to become trillionaires by selling this thing as some kind of momentous sea change. It certainly will have its uses in writing legal briefs and stuff like that, but I don’t think it’s going to take over for writers of fiction.

In the newly signed WGA deal, writers secured a number of protections against AI, including the rule that AI can’t be used to write or rewrite literary material. As the conversation around artificial intelligence continues to grow and evolve, we’ll continue to report on its industry impact.

Donovan Erskine

News Editor

Donovan is a young journalist from Maryland, who likes to game. His oldest gaming memory is playing Pajama Sam on his mom's desktop during weekends. Pokémon Emerald, Halo 2, and the original Star Wars Battlefront 2 were some of the most influential titles in awakening his love for video games. After interning for Shacknews throughout college, Donovan graduated from Bowie State University in 2020 with a major in broadcast journalism and joined the team full-time. He is a huge Scream nerd and film fanatic that will talk with you about movies and games all day. You can follow him on twitter @Donimals_

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Shacknews

 reply
October 5, 2023 3:20 PM

Donovan Erskine posted a new article, Breaking Bad creator Vince Gilligan calls AI a 'plagiarism machine'
- redshak
  
   reply
  October 5, 2023 3:23 PM
  
  I liked this line:
  
  It's a bunch of billionaires trying to become trillionaires by selling this thing as some kind of momentous sea change
  - AxeMan808
    
     reply
    October 5, 2023 5:24 PM
    
    It's a bank, but online AI.
  - derelict515
    
     reply
    October 5, 2023 5:45 PM
    
    nothing more evil than being an AI researcher the past 70 years imho
    - [deleted] 1710055113
      
       reply
      October 6, 2023 8:16 AM
      
      [deleted]
      - smegula
        
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