Will AI Kill Creativity In Hollywood? ‘Mrs. Davis’ Creators Open Up About Writer’s Room AI

The Peacock series Mrs. Davis is all about the evils of AI and how they need to be fought off. The series is created by Tara Hernandez and Damon Lindelof. The latter of whom has worked on films like Tomorrowland starring George Clooney and shows like HBO’s Watchmen, The Leftovers, and Lost. 

Hernandez has previously worked on the hit sitcom The Big Bang Theory and the show that acts as its prequel, Young Sheldon. Now, the two have joined forces to create a world where a nun decides to fight and destroy AI. But they also admitted to using AI in the writer’s room to assist with the naming of episodes and so on. Here’s their take.  

Creators’ Take

The two started working on their dream project Mrs. Davis almost two years ago. At the SXSW conference, talks about ChatGPT and AI were natural, so Hernandez and Lindelof found it to be the perfect place to talk about their brand-new creation.

“The inspiration was the feeling that we all had about the future and where we were all moving with AI,” said Hernandez. She also talked about how their project was formed way before ChatGPT, and other open-source AIs came into existence. It looks like the foresight of the creators about AI’s advent was on point.

“The idea [came from] taking something that was really worrying us. [We were] saying, ‘Oh my God, I am too reliant on technology. But at the same time, I really like it and need it and it is sort of connecting me to people.’” Lindelof opened up. “How do we start to reconcile this anxiety through a fun lens?” 

The question has bothered many before Lindeloff. However, he also admitted that Hollywood isn’t far from using AI more and more as time passes by. No writer wants to be replaced by artificial intelligence. In fact, you can expect another strike if AI takes over, but for Lindeloff, it all sounds pretty normal.

“For sure. My guess is, it starts as a lark. Fundamentally, no writer that I am aware of wants to be replaced by generative artificial intelligence. But at the same time, if you think of it more as a tool, you can have a lot of fun with it if it bolsters the process.”

The two also admitted that the writer’s room for the show used AI to create titles for each episode. So, does this mean AI will write more and more in the future? For some writers, it’s a nightmare, but for some creators, a tool that could be used for good.