Steven Moffat has warned about the risks of using AI to write scripts.
Steven Moffat has insisted AI can't be the future of scriptwriting
The former 'Doctor Who' showrunner - who has returned to the BBC's iconic sci-fi to write this year's Christmas special 'Joy To The World' - insisted artificial intelligence wouldn't be able to replace human beings in the long term because of the technology's very nature.
During a conversation with current 'Doctor Who' boss Russell T Davies for Radio Times magazine, he said: "My son explained it to me. He said, 'Yes, it can do all these things. It might even get quite good at them. But it takes an immense amount of power to run AI.'
"Whereas you can run a human being on sunlight and a vegetable patch. Human beings are amazingly cheap, we’re knocking out human beings every day.
"And unlike anything else in history, the more we use it, the less good it is. Because the more content that is out there produced by AI, the more it absorbs its own content, and eats its own tail."
The 63-year-old writer admitted AI is still "fascinating", and he once used it to try and recreate the various Time Lords from Doctor Who's past.
He recalled: "Because you’re not allowed to say, 'Do a picture of Doctor Who.' But if you say, 'An old man with long, white hair standing in front of a police telephone box circa 1963' – it will give you that.
"I described all the Doctors, and it did not a bad job. But I think we as screenwriters are safe?"
Russell added: "Or are we being daft? If AI is at this stage now, in 10 years, maybe we will be replaced?"
He joked that Steven's fears of AI regurgitating its own ideas has already become a reality.
He quipped: "Television has been run on those principles for a very long time. You’ve just described most networks!"
Tagged in Russell T Davies Steven Moffat