Impact on Society

Interrogating AI-generated creative works' implications on society.

Writing always came easy to Riley, who is now a second-year student majoring in screenwriting. They came to college because they dreamed of writing a script to captivate audiences, but that pressure occasionally led to writer's block. One night, when Riley was experiencing writer's block, they found a new tool powered by AI that promised to generate storylines like Shakespeare. Riley was intrigued, and they began experimenting with this new app. They put in a plot point that was a half-baked idea, and then the tool transformed that plot point into a long, flowery narrative with impressive characters and even a couple of twists.

Riley was shocked by this. While they were impressed by the AI tool's ability to produce a lot of text, they had a lot of ethical questions about what it means for an app to produce such extensive writing so quickly. And Riley's mine, there are a lot of social implications that she wanted answers to. One issue was the authenticity of the work produced. Riley wondered, "If the AI is generating the core of my story, can I truly consider them my own?" This dilemma reflected concern about copyright protection in the age of AI, topics thoroughly discussed in a range of articles that Riley had found, where the blurring of lines between human and machine-generated content raised essential questions about authorship and creative rights.

Riley also noticed potential biases in the AI's narratives, which made her curious about the references the AI used to produce the narrative. They were burdened by this new responsibility to evaluate whether the text produced by the AI system was 100% accurate and didn't negatively affect society.

Riley began researching the role that creative AI tools’ have in shaping narratives in society. One debate they found include comments from those who believe that stories generated by creative AI tools could be a positive force which include with diverse and inclusive narratives. These individuals believed AI could be a positive and that they can reduce stereotypes while introducing important new perspectives. 

Others in the debate warned against allowing creative AI tools to influence societal values. They argued that these tools lack the kind of real experiences necessary to improve society, and they actuallly might create unrealistic expectations about how humans relate with one another. One person pointed out that creative AI tools could perpetuate harmful stereotypes and even suggested they could help to upend societal structures.

Many of Riley's classmates were also beginning to notice these new AI tools, and it became a point of discussion in one of her screenwriting classes. When discussing their future profession if creative AI tools are dominant, Riley also considered a world where AI might even overshadow their creativity.

Riley is not sure how to reconcile all of these conflicting thoughts. They realized that using AI tools to break through creative blocks wasn't only necessary. Still, it was additionally essential to map out their ethical landscape by the importance of being authentic and original, avoiding biases in the text, And making sure that her profession includes humans in the future, not just AI tools.

What do you think?


Questions for Discussion

  • How can AI tools enrich the creative process for screenwriters?
  • What are the problems in using AI if it's good at generating storylines and characters?
  • Who is the author of a screenplay that is mostly written by AI: the human writer, the AI, or both?
  • What ethical issues arise when using AI in creative writing?
  • How can writers assess and figure out if an AI output adds to or hurts culture and society?
  • What specific skills do writers and screenwriters need to address the potential ethical concerns of AI
  • How should writers, technologists, and ethicists work together to improve how AI is developed for screenwriting?

List of resources that, in part, focus on this topic

  • Frontier AI Ethics, by Seth Lazar (2024)
  • Shifting AI controversies: How do we get from the AI controversies we have to the controversies we need?, Shaping AI (2023)
  • Designing Neural Media, by K Allado-McDowell (2023)
  • Communication, by Finn Brunton, Mercedes Bunz, Paula Bialski (2018)
  • Race After Technology, by Ruha Benjamin (2019)
  • Atlas of AI: Power, Politics, and the Planetary Costs of Artificial Intelligence, by Kate Crawford (2021)
  • Design Justice: Community-Led Practices to Build the Worlds We Need, by Sasha Costanza-Chock (2020)
  • Automating Inequality: How High-Tech Tools Profile, Police, and Punish the Poor, by Virginia Eubanks (2018)
  • Sex, Race, and Robots: How to Be Human in the Age of AI, by Ayanna Howard (2019)
  • Algorithms of Oppression: How Search Engines Reinforce Racism, by Safiya Umoja Noble (2018)
  • Weapons of Math Destruction: How Big Data Increases Inequality and Threatens Democracy, by Cathy O'Neil (2016)
  • The Age of Surveillance Capitalism: The Fight for a Human Future at the New Frontier of Power, by Shoshana Zuboff (2019)
  • Coded Bias, by Joy Buolamwini (2020)