Emma Thompson Delivers Expletive-Laden Critique of AI Writing Assistants

Thompson's Explosive Response to AI Writing Tools

Oscar-winning actress and screenwriter Emma Thompson has delivered one of the most colorful critiques of AI writing assistants to date, expressing her "intense irritation" with Microsoft Word's Copilot feature during an appearance on Stephen Colbert's late-night talk show 1

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When Colbert asked the Dame about "the coming AI revolution," Thompson didn't mince words. "When I've written something and put it into a Word document, it's constantly saying, 'Would you like me to rewrite that for you?'" she explained, before launching into an expletive-laden response: "I don't need you to [expletive deleted] rewrite what I've just written. Will you [expletive deleted] off. Just [expletive deleted] off!" 1

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The Creative Process Under Siege

Thompson, who won an Oscar for her 1996 adaptation of Sense and Sensibility, described her traditional writing approach, which involves crafting scripts longhand due to her belief in a "connection between the brain and the hands" before transferring the work to Microsoft's word-processing application . For an award-winning writer, having an AI assistant offer to "improve" her prose is particularly galling.

The actress also recounted past technological frustrations, including an incident while finishing the Sense and Sensibility script when she "came back from the loo to find that it had changed the entire script into hieroglyphs." She had to seek help from Stephen Fry, who spent eight hours recovering the script, which "came out in one long sentence" .

The Default Problem

Microsoft rolled out Copilot in Word in January, and while users can disable the feature by clearing the "Enable Copilot" checkbox in options, Thompson's outburst highlights a broader issue: these features arrive enabled by default, uninvited 1

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. When Colbert suggested Thompson show the computer her screenwriting Oscar, she replied, "I don't think that it would care."

Hollywood's Growing AI Resistance

Thompson's comments reflect a broader resistance within Hollywood to AI integration in creative processes. Over the weekend, director Guillermo del Toro expressed similarly strong sentiments, stating he would "rather die" than use generative AI while making films. "I'm 61, and I hope to be able to remain uninterested in using it at all until I croak," del Toro said .

Speaking at a 2023 conference in Cambridge, Thompson had previously criticized the labeling of creative storytelling as "content" and emphasized the importance of authenticity in writing. "What is authentic, whether you like it or not, is going to be meaningful to somebody. You find your audience by being completely authentic," she said .

The Register reached out to Microsoft for comment on Thompson's remarks, but a spokesperson said the company would only respond "if it has anything to share" 1

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