Art Institutions Embrace Artificial Intelligence: Is This Effective?
Film schools across the nation, including DePaul University, USC, and UCLA, are embracing the future of storytelling by integrating Artificial Intelligence (AI) into their curriculum. The purpose of these innovative courses is to familiarize students with AI as a creative tool, helping them understand how AI can support the writing process while emphasizing that human creativity and narrative intuition remain essential.
DePaul University, for instance, has introduced a new course titled "AI Screenwriting." This groundbreaking course aims to explore the role of AI in the screenwriting process and enhance creativity in film and television. The course is taught by Matthew Quinn, offered to undergraduates at DePaul University's School of Cinematic Arts, and is part of the university's broader efforts to study and integrate AI into its curriculum.
The curriculum of these AI screenwriting courses typically includes exploration of AI-powered tools and platforms, hands-on exercises using AI to generate draft scenes, dialogue, or story beats, and workshops focused on combining AI-generated content with human input to create compelling narratives. Students also analyse the ethical, artistic, and industry implications of AI in storytelling, learn practical applications like creating AI-assisted trailers or visual scenes, and critically evaluate AI's limitations.
At DePaul, students collaborate with ChatGPT and participate in workshops to discuss their creative process and collaborations with the chatbots. The school's film program has a policy that requires students to acknowledge the use of AI in screenwriting and explain why and how they used it.
Holly Willis, the co-director of USC's AI studio, expressed excitement about the new forms of storytelling that AI could provide. However, she noted that some of her students seem nervous about the infusion of AI into the arts. Quinn, the instructor of DePaul's AI screenwriting course, described it as a workshop designed to expose students to different perspectives on AI and its potential offerings to creatives.
The University of Southern California has launched an AI for Media and Storytelling studio, and UCLA Extension has launched a new course called "Creative Process in the Age of AI." The American Film Institute has debuted a three-day seminar series on "Storytelling and AI." Souki Mansoor, a former documentarian, works for OpenAI as "Sora Artist Program Lead" and has produced visual pieces using AI.
However, not everyone is embracing this technological shift. Jake Panek, a 20-year-old film major at DePaul University, expressed anger towards the new course on AI screenwriting, viewing the infusion of AI into filmmaking as a betrayal of the fundamentals of the creative process. The school's dean, who hails from the School of Computing, is very invested in AI, indicating a potential divide in the school's approach to AI in filmmaking.
Despite this divide, the overarching goal of these courses is to empower students to treat AI as a collaborative tool that can augment human creativity without supplanting it. By balancing technical skills with creative mastery and emphasizing ethical and artistic considerations in AI-assisted screenwriting and filmmaking, these courses aim to prepare students not just to write scripts but also to navigate a future where AI increasingly intersects with all aspects of filmmaking.
- DePaul University's AI Screenwriting course, led by Matthew Quinn, is integrating technology like ChatGPT into its curriculum, aiming to explore AI's role in the screenwriting process while fostering creativity in film and television.
- The University of Southern California and UCLA Extension have also embraced the future of storytelling by launching AI studios and courses, respectively, focusing on AI's role in media and storytelling.
- Souki Mansoor, formerly a documentarian, now works for OpenAI as "Sora Artist Program Lead," using AI to create visual pieces in the field of storytelling and tech.
- While some students, such as Jake Panek at DePaul University, view the integration of AI into filmmaking as a potentially detrimental shift, the broader goal of these courses remains to equip students with the skills to navigate a future where AI intersects with all aspects of filmmaking, balancing technical skills with creative mastery and ethical considerations.
