Swiss film director faces backlash over AI-written screenplay

Peter Luisi also directed the comedy Bon Schuur Ticino. Keystone-SDA

Complaints from film fans over the use of artificial intelligence (AI) has led Prince Charles Cinema in London to cancel the premiere of The Last Screenwriter. Zurich director Peter Luisi criticised the lack of willingness to engage in debate over AI.

The premiere of The Last Screenwriter by Peter Luisi, who also directed the comedy Bon Schuur Ticino, should have taken place a few days ago at the Prince Charles Cinema in London.

However, following strong reactions and complaints, the cinema decided to cancel the premiere. At issue, was Luisi’s use of AI to write the screenplay.

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“From the beginning, I knew that this was a controversial topic at a sensitive time and that it would not leave people unscathed,” Luisi said in an interview with the Keystone-SDA news agency. Nevertheless, he was surprised by what happened, and the intensity of the feedback. It has been a year since the potential risks of AI were the focus of the writers’ strike in Hollywood.

The Last Screenwriter tells the story of a screenwriter who discovers that AI can write better than him. According to Luisi, this is an experiment. The story “is intended to spark a discussion and never had a commercial goal”.

Luisi did not receive any financial support for this film. The work was financed with money from the funding he received for the success of the film Bon Schuur Ticino.

Luisi told Keystone-SDA that he regretted the decision, but of course respected it. However, he expressed his frustration that critics failed to engage with the subject matter. “They have only heard or read: The script was written by AI. That was enough. That’s all they wanted to know,” says the director.

The film was finally shown to the crew on a smaller scale in another cinema. It will also be available for viewing on the web in mid-July.

Translated from German by DeepL/jdp

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