After over four decades, Alan Alda and Mike Farrell reunited to read a new scene from “M*A*S*H,” in which they reprised their roles as humorous doctors Hawkeye Pierce and B.J. Hunnicutt stationed at a Korean War mobile surgical unit.
The screenplay was not created by Larry Gelbart or any other renowned authors who contributed to the long-running television series but by ChatGPT. This A.I. technology has recently gained immense popularity.
Alda, the host of a podcast named “Clear+Vivid,” decided to challenge the tool to compose a scene for “M*A*S*H” in which Hawkeye blames B.J., his close friend and partner in mischievousness, for taking his boxer shorts.
Alda’s prompting from behind the keyboard led to a scene between two men that was brief but not natural, which was then recorded for the podcast with both actors on opposite coasts.
Alda conceded that the attempt was not entirely successful; “M*A*S*H” was known for its sharp wit and lively conversations, but ChatGPT’s offering was hollow, and its humor was, at best dull. However, it marked the first time Hawkeye and Klinger had interacted since the series finale that aired in 1983, which is still one of the most viewed programs on American T.V. apart from Super Bowls.
Hawkeye: Do you know where my shorts are?
B.J.: You’re what?
Hawkeye: I’m sure you possess the same shorts I used to wear before entering the operating room.
B.J.:I would never be caught wearing your underwear in any situation.
Hawkeye: My wardrobe is missing these garments that are both comfortable and enjoyable to don.
Alda, who is just like the rest of us and has developed an obsession with AI, declared in a conversation that he wanted to use it to create a scene suitable for television. As people worldwide have become consumed by this technology, many have tested its capacity to develop stories using its extensive store of digital content such as books, Wikipedia articles, and other online material.
Farrell revealed on the podcast that he was disturbed by the concept of AI potentially replacing human T.V. writers, which had been put forth in the script. Alda, however, appeared less angry; when he asked ChatGPT to “make it funny,” it created some foolish material. Additionally, its output tended to be overly sentimental, so Alda instructed it to “stop being sentimental.”
B.J.: Do you mean the shorts that are lucky for you?
Hawkeye: They’re not lucky. I don’t believe in that nonsense.
B.J.: Like when you insisted on wearing the same pair of socks for a week because you won a game of poker in them?
Hawkeye: I am not superstitious! Those are just my normal shorts.
B.J.: Right, just like when you made everyone walk backward around the O.R. to ward off bad luck.
Hawkeye: That was a joke — I can’t believe you’re taking that seriously. I am not superstitious. And those are my normal shorts. I wear them because they inspire and remind me of my grandmother.
Alda says:
“It has a terrible sense of humor.”
(Before he removed this joke, ChatGPT wrote Hawkeye a nonsensical line in which he said the boxer shorts reminded him of his grandmother, because “she once bet on a horse that turned out to be a cow and still managed to make a profit.”)
“That’s for future generations to determine.”
So, should this exchange between B.J. and Hawkeye about the boxer shorts be considered canon? Or mere fan fiction?
The scene ‘M*A*S*H’ written by ChatGPT was an incredible ending to this blog post. It brought a bright, funny, and light-hearted feeling to the story. Hawkeye and B.J.’s humourous reading and interpretation of the scene made it even more enjoyable. Through this episode, we have seen the capabilities of AI as writers or content creators and its potential to be used in various industries.
Moreover, AI language models such as GPT-3 create a natural language that can help improve some undesirable dialogue writing many authors deal with when producing scripts for films or TV series like ‘M*A*S*H.’ Ultimately
Source: @nytimes
