THE ETHICIST TAP : [ A ]

[ Q ] I work as a screenwriter. Is it alright if I use A.I.? 

THAT'S the bigger story. In the day-to-day life of a working writer, the question is less abstract. If people press you about your A.I. policy point to the guild's rules.

Tell them that every page you submit reads the way you want it to. Then announce : We're done here.

A RECENT STUDY found that large language models simply couldn't tell how suspenseful readers would find a piece of writing.

That's why I hear screenwriters talk about A.I. as a tool, not an understudy with ambitions. I realize that you've got another perspective right now : '' We're not so different, you and I,'' as the villain tells the hero in a zillion movies.

But don't sell yourself short. You fed the machine your writing before you asked it to draft a scene. You made it clear what dramatic work was to be done.

And so long as you and the studio or production company are consenting parties on this score, you'll be on the right side of the Writers Guild of America rules.

Your employers wanted a script; you'll be accountable for each page they read. And though generative  A.I. was trained on the work of human creators, so were you : Every show you've watched, every script you've read, surely left its mark. You have no cause to apologize.

Does the entertainment industry? It was hooked on formula, as I've stressed, long before the L.L.M.s arrived. Some contrivances endure simply because they're legible, efficient and easy to execute. 

Take the one where one character has news to share with another, but is interrupted by the other's news.  Then comes the inevitable : '' So what was it you wanted to tell me? '' Ulp!

Writers have flogged that one for decades; why wouldn't a bot cough it up?

The truth is that many viewers cherish familiarity and prefer shows, especially soaps and franchise fare, to deliver surprises in unsurprising ways.

Still, there will always be an audience for work that spurns the template - for writers who, shall we say, think outside the bot.

That's the bigger story. In the day-to-day life of a working writer, the question is less abstract. If the people press you about your A.I. policy, point to the guild's rules.

Tell them that every page you submit reads the way you want it to. Then announce : We're done here.

The World Students Society thanks Professor Kwame Anthony Appiah who teaches philosophy at  N.Y.U.