One of the brains behind Doctor Who warned that the more AI content is used for creative purposes, the worse the result will be because it “eats its own tail”.
Ahead of the Doctor Who Christmas special, eagerly awaited by fans as the centerpiece of BBC1’s festive schedule, Steven Moffat made the comments in a discussion with a fellow showrunner Russell T. Davis.
“Human beings are incredibly cheap, we knock out human beings every day. And unlike anything else in history, the more we use it, the less good it is.” Moffat told the Radio Times. “Because the more content AI produces, the more it absorbs its own content and eats its own tail.”
Davis, who is responsible for the modern revival of Doctor Who in 2005 and returned as showrunner in 2022, wondered if AI would replace writers.
He replied to Moffat: “Television has been run on these principles for a very long time. You just described most networks!”
The Doctor Who Christmas special, due to be broadcast at teatime on Christmas Day, has become a mainstay of the BBC schedule.
Titled Joy to the World, it stars Derry Girls actor Nicola Coughlan as Joy, who checks into a London hotel in 2024. only to discover that there is a secret door to the Time Hotel where she discovers the Doctor played by Ncuti Gatwa.
In the conversation between the two, Moffat added: “I absolutely adore Christmas – it can’t start early enough for me. We’re having a big party the day before Christmas Eve where all our friends are coming. I remember one time – I don’t know why it happened – but David Tennant showed up at our Christmas party all dressed up as an elf. No one else was dressed! He just wanders around like an elf.
Davies replied that he usually missed the Doctor Who Christmas special and had to catch up later.
“We swap Christmases between my sisters. I never cook. We have a big, proper family Christmas dinner. We usually miss the Doctor Who special to be honest. I’ll watch it at midnight.