'After The Hunt' writer who trained AI for Meta slams its use in film
Nora Garrett, the writer of the new film After The Hunt, says she is "staunchly against" the use of AI in filmmaking. She wrote the script while working as a data analyst training AI at Meta and shared her stance at the film's premiere at the London BFI Film Festival on Saturday, 11 October.
"It taught me a lot about, you know, for lack of a better term, how the sausage gets made," she said. "AI is sold to us like it's the future, but it's a regurgitation of our collective past, remarketed as the future."
She added: "I don't know that making things happen quicker, cheaper, and more optimally is really conducive to the human spirit and our human collectivism."
Why this matters for working writers
Studios are chasing speed and cost-cutting. Writers are fighting to protect authorship, credit, and pay. Garrett's critique is simple: if creativity becomes a remix machine, the market gets more content-but less meaning.
This isn't an abstract debate. It affects who gets hired, how contracts are written, what gets credited, and what ends up in datasets.
Practical steps to protect your work
- Get AI language into your contracts. Specify consent for any use of your work in training data, require approval for AI-generated material in your projects, and define compensation if AI touches your IP.
- Track provenance. Keep drafts, timestamps, and writing logs. If your voice is questioned, you'll have proof.
- Set boundaries. Decide which tasks you refuse to offload to AI (character voice, story beats, dialogue) and communicate that upfront.
- Use guild resources. Review current guidance on AI and authorship from the WGA: WGA 2023 MBA summary (AI section).
- Register your work. Protect scripts, treatments, and bibles with the WGAW Registry: WGAW Script Registry.
Creative takeaway
Garrett's point cuts deep: faster and cheaper isn't the same as better. If the process erodes the human voice, the final product suffers-even if the schedule doesn't.
As a writer, your leverage is your taste, your judgment, and your voice. Guard those like assets. Put them in writing. And don't outsource the parts that make your work yours.
About the film
After The Hunt features Julia Roberts, Ayo Edebiri, and Andrew Garfield. The film premiered at the London BFI Film Festival on 11 October.
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