AI to produce EastEnders and other soaps within three years, says filmmaker

21 February 2024 , 23:37

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BBC EastEnders and other soaps 'will be made by AI within three years' says top film maker

James Hawes, a top British filmmaker who directed the Gary Oldman spy series Slow Horses, has warned that popular soaps like EastEnders could be created by artificial intelligence (AI) within three years.

He told MPs that AI is advancing so quickly it could soon produce TV shows without any human involvement. However, he noted that these "Bot Cotton's adventures" might not be as polished as those made by humans. Hawes, who is also the vice-chairman of Directors UK, said that everyone he spoke to in the industry, including actors, writers' unions and special effects technicians, agreed that AI-generated shows would start appearing within three to five years.

Speaking to the Culture, Media and Sport Committee's inquiry into British film and TV, Hawes said: "I believe the genie is out of the bottle. It may not be as polished as we'd been used to but that's how close we're getting and I find that hard to believe for all the creatives involved."

If you can't see the poll, click here

He added: "I believe we have to live with this.'' James said at the same time, the emergence of bots could be " At the same time, he suggested that the rise of bots could be "incredibly enabling". He continued: "I think there are all parts of storytelling and British storytelling that can be filled in enabled by this but we have to protect the rights' holders."

EastEnders' Jake Wood's snap of son has fans pointing out the pair's likeness

EastEnders and other soaps could be written by AI in a few years, James warned (EastEnders/Youtube)

It could result in shows being made that would normally never make it off the storyboard as "this could lead to the creation of shows that would normally never get past the storyboard stage because "ambition tends to come at a price". The star shared: "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."

"It may not be as polished as we'd been used to but that's how close we're getting and I find that hard to believe, for all the creatives involved", he added.

Zara Woodcock