Jack Thorne warns some fellow scriptwriters are using AI ‘to cheat’

Summary

Jack Thorne, president of the Writers’ Guild of Great Britain and co-writer of Netflix’s Adolescence, has called for laws against the undisclosed use of artificial intelligence to generate scripts. Speaking in London, Thorne distinguished permissible uses—such as proofreading, layout assistance, and discussion—from using AI as a substitute for writing. He said secretly presenting AI-generated work as original writing amounts to cheating employers and fellow writers, and argued that broadcasters, studios, publishers, and streamers should impose professional sanctions, including possible prosecution or expulsion from the industry. Thorne also criticized AI companies for scraping copyrighted creative work to train their models and accused the UK government of failing to protect writers’ intellectual property. He said Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s government had abandoned a proposed opt-out system for copyright holders after backlash and had instead conducted a consultation. A government spokesperson said officials were working to protect copyright while enabling AI innovation. The article reports Thorne’s allegations and policy demands, but provides no independent evidence establishing how widespread undisclosed AI script generation is or whether current UK law would classify it as fraud.