"Plant buds grow from the back !? The idea of ​​an" AI scriptwriter "" May 16th, 18:15

This March, a short film was released.

A movie with a slightly mysterious story about plant sprouts growing on the back of a boy who can't eat tomatoes.

The script was written by AI = artificial intelligence.

AI is used in everyday life such as voice recognition of smartphones and image analysis of autonomous driving, but now it is also expanding into the field of creative activities.

What is that ability!

??

(Hakodate Broadcasting Station reporter Masato Nishida)

What is an "AI screenwriter" movie?

This March, the movie "Boy, something germinates" was released at a film festival held in Osaka.

The main character is a boy who hates tomatoes.

Neither his mother's home cooking nor school lunch can eat tomatoes.

Then one day, plant buds grow from the boy's back.

The mother tries to feed the tomatoes with that hand, but the boy refuses.

The story is that the buds on his back grow steadily.

It was the first time in Japan that a movie based on a script written by AI was released, and it attracted a lot of attention.

Audience

"It was interesting because I didn't think that a boy would really sprout. If AI was thinking, it would be amazing or no different from humans, or the idea might be beyond humans. I think it's amazing to think that it's crazy. "

Movie production staff Hiroki Tawada

"When I finished watching, I was asked various questions such as" How much AI did it? "I'm glad that the viewer imagines the scriptwriter's AI." I've never thought about something like "Isn't this idea an AI?" Or "Isn't it a story like this because it's an AI?"

It was developed by an IT company in Hakodate City.

The IT company "Ales" in Hakodate, Hokkaido, developed this system, which should be called an "AI screenwriter".

The center of development was Hitoshi Matsubara, a specially appointed professor at Future University-Hakodate.

Mr. Matsubara has been involved in AI research since the 1980s, which was said to be the "second AI boom," and has been involved in the development of "AI Shogi," a computer game that shogi fans have played once.

Mr. Matsubara's goal is to "challenge creativity" in the arts field, where it has been considered difficult for AI to advance.

Insatiable challenge to AI x creativity

Mr. Matsubara's challenge began 10 years ago.

The name of the project is "I'm a writer of the Kimagure Artificial Intelligence Project."

This project, with a slightly unusual name, was about to create an "AI novelist."

This is a study to analyze the entire work of Shinichi Hoshi, a master of the short novel work "Short Short", and let AI create the novel.

Six years ago, a short story titled "The Day Computers Write Novels" was submitted to the literary award, and the fact that it passed the first selection was taken up by the media and became a hot topic.

This "AI screenwriter" is the second challenge to creativity by AI.

Mr. Jin Matsubara

"Recent AI research results have made it possible to beat masters in shogi, but creativity is a human-specific ability. From the current position of AI evolution, there is a script that includes human hands such as directors. I thought it would be good. There is a possibility that the content will be good if humans supplement it a little. "

And what was developed this time was the "AI screenwriter" system "Furukoto".

How AI creates a script

"Furukoto" is a method called "deep learning" that allows a computer to learn a huge amount of data and reads many novels and screenplays.

Then, you will learn words that are inferred to be related to the word "mountain", such as "climb" and "high".

Humans input a synopsis of about 60 characters for AI that has learned the connection of words.

Based on this synopsis, AI infers the connection between words and creates a sentence divided into four parts for Kishōtenketsu.

This is a method called "box writing" that is also done by professional screenwriters.

I actually made a script with AI!

Then, I asked Mr. Minoki Tawada, the scriptwriter who was in charge of the script in "collaboration" with AI, to reproduce the work how this script was created by this system.

First, humans thought about the concept, and this time we decided to use tomatoes as the key to the story.

After learning about 30 screenplays with tomatoes in AI, Mr. Tawada entered the synopsis.

About 10 seconds after inputting, AI completed a story consisting of 16 scenes along the flow of Kishōtenketsu.

However,,,.

Embarrassed by sudden development

A person named "Yasagure Youth" who suddenly appeared.

AI only mechanically arranges words that are inferred from the entered words, and cannot understand the meaning of the sentence, so sometimes a story that humans cannot understand is created.

The film crew couldn't find the story fascinating, as the sudden characters just called a mystery.

Yuko Watanabe, a movie director,

"There are quite a few things that I can't accept. It was hard for me to have a leap in interpretation to some extent."

The swing range of "emotion" can also be set

Therefore, Mr. Tawada adjusted the concept and tone of the work to make it a story that humans find interesting.

A function called "target emotion value" is used to adjust the tone.

The blue scale goes to the left, showing darker and unhappy feelings.

For example, if you want to make the part that says "I was able to regain my smile by helping to make tomatoes" in a darker scene, move the scale to the left.

Then, as you can see.

"I feel sick when I see tomatoes scattered in the garden," changed to a dark tone.

One sentence at the end of trial and error

As a result of repeating these adjustments over and over, what came out was a story that included the scene that became the title of the movie, "Boy, something is germinating."

Ms. Minoki Tawada

"I've come up with the idea that I want to use this. It's not unimaginable, and it's not always incoherent."

The director added lines to the completed script to make a movie, but it was AI.

Even if I wanted to discuss its meaning and aim, I couldn't do it, so I used human creativity to flesh out the images and lines and finished it.

Mr. Tawada says that he wants to make good use of AI and expand the range of human creative activities.

Ms. Minoki Tawada

"By facing AI, I can understand that this was an idea that I couldn't think of. I find it more interesting that I couldn't think of it. People often say that there is a drawer inside, but I don't think anyone has looked at everything in their drawer. It is this "Furukoto" that opens such a drawer. "I think it is"

The “AI screenwriter” has not yet reached the level of instantly producing a script that anyone can understand, but in the future, we are aiming to make a feature film by increasing the amount that can be learned and the accuracy of the script to be created.

And Mr. Matsubara, the developer, gives an example of the evolution of "AI Shogi" that he was researching to the point where he can defeat a professional shogi player, and he is proud that it is not impossible.

Mr. Jin Matsubara

"I think that AI has a pretty good line as an opportunity to step into the sensibilities and creativity of human beings. With the script of AI, such a strange movie can be made, or a strange animation. It would be great if we could do something or increase the range of content we enjoy. When Shogi AI was researching about 40 years ago, he said, "One day, someone will win the master with a program made by someone." However, everyone around me said, "That's not going to happen." But if you look at the current reality, you could have done it. 40 years later. This "Furukoto" took less than 40 years. I want you to be able to say that you have creativity. "

The origin of Mr. Matsubara's AI research is that character.

Why is Mr. Matsubara continuing his research to give AI creativity in the first place?

A doll that can be said to be the origin is placed in Mr. Matsubara's laboratory.

100,000 horsepower with big eyes and sharp hairstyle.

It is "Astro Boy".

Mr. Matsubara was fascinated by robots trying to understand humans that he saw in TV animation when he was a boy, and has continued his AI research.

Mr. Jin Matsubara

"The scene that left a great impression on me is the scene where Atom can play with. Atom is a good friend and is on the side of humans, but Atom says," Humans are something beautiful. There was a scene where I was messing around with "I don't know what it is. You can't be a human being, right?", And that scene remained strong in my childhood, saying "This is amazing." That is my starting point. "

The future of AI drawn by Mr. Matsubara

But why does Atom connect with the research that creates "AI for writing screenplays and novels"?

Mr. Matsubara thinks that AI is "a thing that helps and enriches human beings", and the ultimate ideal type is Astro Boy who tries to understand human beings and helps human beings.

To that end, I think it is necessary to bring artificial intelligence as close to humans as possible.

Therefore, understanding and reproducing the mechanism of human creative activities, which has been considered difficult for AI, that is, advancing to the level where AI can write novels and screenplays that touch the chords of humans, only for humans in the field of creativity. The goal is to be evaluated as approaching.

On the other hand, it is always pointed out that the closer AI gets to human intelligence, the more "AI will take away work" and "AI will take over society."

Mr. Matsubara talks about such "AI threat theory" as follows, and wants to build a future in which evolving AI helps people.

Mr. Jin Matsubara

"When AI develops, there are also views that it will destroy humans and rob humans of their jobs. However, AI still works unless humans program it and give it a mechanism. It is up to humans to decide how to utilize AI. In the future, in human society, in preparation for the emergence of AI with intelligence that moves autonomously without human instructions. There should be more social debate about how to position AI. I think that Atom is the starting point, so if we study AI and robots properly, we will say, "Friends and allies like Atom. I believe that I can do it, "and I would like to continue to challenge the research of" AI x creativity "to help and enrich people in order to show it."

Hakodate Bureau Reporter

Masato Nishida

Joined in 2017

After working at the Nagasaki Bureau, he

was in charge of the agriculture, forestry and fisheries field of the Hakodate Bureau and regional administration.