A new Netflix documentary on Strangers Things appears to show the Duffers using ChatGPT as part of their creative process.
Stranger Things has come to an end, as you’re no doubt aware, after five seasons and 10-ish years, exiting to massive viewership numbers and a mixed response from audiences and critics alike. That’s normal – it’s actually pretty rare for a series to stick the landing. There are far more bad series finales than good ones, and Stranger Things season 5 is right in the middle of the pack, quality-wise.
It’s also normal – or at least understandable – that Netflix would want to send their flagship series off with all due pomp and circumstance. Part of that, along with the usual full court press of interviews and profiles, is a new documentary, One Last Adventure: The Making of Stranger Things 5, now streaming exactly where you’d expect to find it. It’s the usual hagiographic back-slapping nonsense, but keen-eyed viewers noticed that, in at least one shot, the Duffers’ computer had a few ChatGPT tabs open.
They also seem to be writing the script in Google Docs, which also ruffled a few feathers, but not as much as the ChatGPT use (alleged use, to be fair, but three tabs is telling).
The AV Club reached out to the Duffers and Netflix for comment, but received no reply. However, in an in-depth interview with The Hollywood Reporter, doco director Martina Radwan responded to questions about the Duffers using generative AI – and more or less dismissed the accusations.
“I mean, are we even sure they had ChatGPT open?” she says, going to ask, “Doesn’t everybody have it open, to just do quick research?”
I don’t, but THR‘s Tony Maglio responds in the affirmative, for what it’s worth.
Asked directly if she witnessed any unethical use of generative AI in the writers’ room, Radwan was adamant.
“No, of course not. I witnessed creative exchanges. I witnessed conversation. People think ‘writers room’ means people are sitting there writing. No, it’s a creative exchange. It’s story development. And, of course, you go places in your creative mind and then you come back [to the script]. I think being in the writers room is such a privilege and such a gift to be able to witness that.”
I dunno; if I’d weathered a decade of people calling my signature series derivative and unoriginal, I simply wouldn’t get caught on film using ChatGPT. But that’s just me.
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