One of the masterminds behind Doctor Who has warned that the more AI content is used for creative purposes the worse its output will be because it “eats its own tail”.
Ahead of the Doctor Who Christmas special, eagerly awaited by fans as a centrepiece of BBC1’s festive schedule, Steven Moffat made the comments in discussion with fellow showrunner Russell T Davies.
“Human beings are amazingly cheap, we’re knocking out human beings every day. And unlike anything else in history, the more we use it, the less good it is,” Moffat told the Radio Times. “Because the more content that is out there produced by AI, the more it absorbs its own content, and eats its own tail.”
Davies, who was responsible for the modern revival of Doctor Who in 2005 and returned as showrunner in 2022, had wondered whether AI would replace screenwriters.
He replied to Moffat: “Television has been run on those principles for a very long time. You’ve just described most networks!”
The Doctor Who Christmas special, due to be broadcast at teatime on Christmas Day, has become a mainstay of the BBC’s schedule.
Entitled Joy to the World, it guest-stars the Derry Girls actor Nicola Coughlan as Joy, who checks into a London hotel in 2024 only to find that it contains a secret doorway to the Time Hotel, where she discovers the Doctor, played by Ncuti Gatwa.
In the exchange between the pair, Moffat added: “I absolutely adore Christmas – it can’t start early enough for me. We do a big party the day before Christmas Eve where all our friends come round. I remember once – I don’t know why this happened – but David Tennant turned up at our Christmas party entirely dressed as an elf. No one else was in fancy dress! He’s just wandering around like an elf.”
Davies replied that he normally missed the Doctor Who Christmas special and had to catch up later.
“We swap Christmasses between my sisters. I don’t ever cook. We have a big, proper family Christmas dinner. We normally miss the Doctor Who special, to be honest. I’ll watch it at midnight.”
