Unfortunately for writers (and many others) the pace of technological change has entered the phase where our capacity to adapt in order to avoid socioeconomic disruption is woefully inadequate.

The entertainment industry has always suffered from an irredeemable economic problem. The supply of creative talent wanting a career as writer, actor, singer, dancer, director, etc. so far outstrips the need that talent and technique are not enough. One has to “break in” to the business through some combination of connections, tenacity, morally questionable actions and incredible luck. Once in, the biggest concern isn’t as staying in as much as keeping others out. It’s an incredibly easy economic system to destabilize.

All the money that pays the salaries for the 4% of creative artists who are actually able to make a living in the business comes from audience members through ticket sales, subscriptions or advertising. When they either can’t afford the cost, or shift their tastes (TikTok) the house of cards collapses.

A strategy built on complaining about fairness in a business that is at its very core built on excluding 95% of artists from getting in the room, is absurd. The laws of supply and demand are not in your favor.

A strategy built on the shaky premise that AI will never be able to write a decent screenplay, joke, speech, etc ignores 40 years of exponential technological progress. It’s not going to suddenly stop improving.

Given much of what passes for entertainment these days in theaters and online, it seems to me AI doesn’t have to improve much before it can effectively compete with humans. It doesn’t have to be able to write Casablanca or Citizen Kane. It just has to be better than thousands of other writers whose names are not Epstein, Mankiewicz or Welles.

So, one can rail against inevitable changes or help invent a new paradigm. Not an easy task for sure. But what’s the alternative?