TV soap episodes could be entirely created by AI soon, director says

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BBC soaps could be entirely made by generative artificial intelligence soon, according to a BBC boss.

The technology to generate a script and videos in response to a prompt, MPs have heard.

Director James Hawes who has worked on TV shows including Doctor Who and Snowpiercer was asked by the Culture, Media and Sport Committee’s inquiry into British film and high-end TV about how technology will effect his industry on Wednesday.

The vice-chairman of Directors UK told MPs about a forum held after the announcement that Doctors would be cancelled later this year by the BBC.

He said: “One of the members there started talking about AI and it sent me investigating into how long it would be before a show like Doctors can be made entirely by generative AI and I took a poll with various VFX people…. I then spoke to some of the legal team who advised Sag(-Aftra) and (the) Writers Guild (of America) over the summer ahead of coming here.

“And the best guess is between three to five years, somebody (will) be able to say ‘create a scene in an ER room where a doctor comes in, he’s having an affair with a woman so they’re flirting, and somebody’s dying on the table’ and it will start to create it and you will build those and it will be generative AI.”

Mr Hawes’ comments came just days after ChatGPT developers OpenAI revealed Sora, a new video creation tool. That can take a prompt and then turn it into realistic looking video, according to its designers.

Additional reporting by Press Association