A whiff of anti-AI sentiment received a standing ovation at the SXSW conference in Austin on Tuesday afternoon. Award-winning writers and directors Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert, known collectively as “DANIELS,” premiered their film “Everything Everywhere All at Once” at SXSW in 2022. The film later won seven Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Film Direction and Best Screenplay. In a discussion about the future of storytelling at this year’s SXSW on Tuesday, the duo commented on the inevitable rise of artificial intelligence and how to approach it, calling the technology both “amazing” and “scary.”
As Kwan originally explained, modern capitalism only worked because we made people work, rather than forcing them to do it.
“We had to change the story we told ourselves and say ‘your value is your work,'” he told the audience. “You are only worth what you can do, and we are no longer beings with intrinsic worth. And that’s why it’s so hard to find fulfillment in this current system. The system works best when you’re not satisfied,” he said, then stopped. “Which brings me back to artificial intelligence,” Kwan continued to thunderous applause and cheers.
Noting that the crowd must be loving the AI, given the screams and shouts that were being heard, Kwan admitted that many people will call the technology amazing, and he agreed.
“It’s magical,” he said. “It will probably cure cancer. It will probably give us many climate solutions. That’s a powerful thing,” Kwan continued. “But I’m really terrified of what this new story will have to tell ourselves to accept this new ease, this new progress. It’s scary,” he added as a lone voice cheered through the otherwise quiet crowd.
“So imagine what this technology will do in this current system, within this current incentive structure. This is the same system that brought us climate change, income inequality and a general lack of gratitude and understanding of our value and the value of those around us,” Kwan said.
Plus, he noted, if you’re feeling anxious about AI, it’s probably because, deep down, you know you’re next. “Even if jobs aren’t going to be lost, the value of work is going to go down, right? … It will slowly worsen and normalize until we don’t realize it,” he said.
Kwan showed how social media had already changed our history. A technology meant to connect us ended up making us lonelier than ever. But, with artificial intelligence, we still have the opportunity to “rewrite the histories and rewrite the systems for tomorrow,” he explained.
However, he cautioned that this did not mean we could choose to ignore the progress of artificial intelligence or even its usefulness.
“I also want to say that we’re not saying ‘don’t use AI.’ I don’t believe in dogmas. I don’t believe in that kind of puritanical lifestyle — it doesn’t work. AI is here. It will quickly grow into every aspect of our lives,” Kwan said.
Scheinert agreed, adding that instead, people should think about why they use AI.
“Are you trying to use it to create the world you want to live in? Are you trying to use it to add value to your life and focus on things that really matter to you? Or just trying to make money for the billionaires, you know?” Scheinert asked the audience. “And if someone tells you, there is no side effect. It’s really good, get on board — I just want to go on the record and say it’s freaking bullshit. This is not true. And we should be talking very deeply about how to carefully, carefully develop this material,” he said.
The crowd then erupted into sustained applause.
They also had their reservations about artificial intelligence, it seemed.
Kwan came back to add that people need to look at why it “feels so wrong to use AI,” while also surviving this current environment where AI will basically be everywhere. It also reminded the audience why we create art.
“Why did we write ‘Everything Everywhere All At Once’ the way we did? And the answer is that we did it to save ourselves. Every story… we do is an act of saving ourselves and our worth from a system that wants to devalue us and the people we care about,” Kwan said.
