‘Doctor Who’ Has Entered the AI Debate in an Alarming Way

This is a moment in history when powerful show-biz types, people able to shape the future of entertainment with their decisions and influence, should be taking a stand against AI. Don’t use it to create background art or generate scripts or make fake actors or replace any job that an actual person could be doing. Apparently one of the bigwigs at the BBC hasn’t gotten the memo, though, and while Doctor Who fans shouldn’t panic just yet, they might want to worry a little.

According to Deadline , BBC director general Matt Brittin, whose previous job was president of Google EMEA (Europe, Middle East, and Africa), said he was recently sent a 50-minute, fully AI-generated episode of Doctor Who . His verdict: “pretty good.”

Chilling words. Then, he added, “I mean, it’s not going to replace humans, but we’ll come on to that.”

And maybe even worse: “Everyone’s [now] got the ability to create content almost at the standard of a Hollywood studio. In some cases it’s not perfect, but look at what you can do, and that’s changing all the time.”

These remarks were made today at the RTS (Royal Television Society) Convention, just a few weeks after the BBC officially put Doctor Who out for tender , aiming to find a new producing partner on the long-running sci-fi series. Here’s hoping AI doesn’t interfere as the show enters its next chapter.

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