Creativity, authorship, and AI: what we owe future storytellers

Storytelling has always been a human craft.

The question today is not whether AI can generate stories, but what happens to authorship, originality, and creative responsibility when algorithms increasingly participate in the process.

These questions were at the center of a recent C[i] Forecast conversation with Kayla Alpert, Emmy-nominated writer and executive producer whose career spans more than three decades in television and film. Alpert is best known as an executive producer on Netflix’s global phenomenon Wednesday, where she worked closely with Tim Burton, Alfred Gough, and Miles Millar to reimagine an iconic character for a new generation.

The conversation explored how creators navigate a world where AI accelerates production, shapes attention, and increasingly influences what stories get told.

When algorithms enter the creative process

AI is already embedded in creative workflows. Scripts can be generated, story structures optimized, and audience reactions predicted. What remains unresolved is how creators preserve authorship and intent when tools begin to influence not just execution, but imagination itself.

Alpert framed this not as a fear-driven debate about whether AI is good or bad for creativity, but as a question of responsibility. Tools shape outcomes. And creators, studios, and platforms must decide what role those tools are allowed to play.

In an attention economy optimized for speed and scale, the risk is not that AI replaces creativity, but that it standardizes it.

Writing stories that still feel human

Throughout her career, Alpert has worked across genres, from legal dramedy to supernatural thriller. Her work on Ally McBeal, Code Black, Emily in Paris, and Wednesday reflects a consistent focus on character-driven storytelling rather than formula.

That sensibility was central to the discussion. AI can assist with structure and pattern recognition, but it cannot replace lived experience, emotional intuition, or moral judgment. Those elements remain the responsibility of the creator.

During the session, Alpert spoke about the importance of protecting space for experimentation and imperfection, especially as automation promises efficiency. What feels human on screen is often what cannot be optimized.

Reimagining icons without losing their soul

Wednesday offers a useful case study. The series broke Netflix records, reaching hundreds of millions of views globally, while embracing darkness, strangeness, and emotional complexity in a culture dominated by algorithmic optimization.

The success of the show raises an uncomfortable question. Could an algorithm have written it?

Not the dialogue. Not the plot twists. But something subtler. The tone. The restraint. The creative decisions that resist mass appeal in favor of vision.

Alpert argued that what makes certain stories irreplaceable is not novelty, but authorship. A clear point of view anchored in human intention.

An ethical obligation to future creators

A preview segment from the conversation, titled Our ethical obligation to future creators in the age of AI, captures one of the session’s central themes.

The choices being made now will shape the creative landscape future storytellers inherit. If originality is optimized out of the system, it becomes harder for new voices to emerge. If efficiency becomes the primary metric, risk-taking disappears.

The question is not whether AI will be part of creative work. It already is. The question is how creators, producers, and platforms choose to govern its role.

Watch the conversation on Intelligence.com

The full C[i] Forecast conversation with Kayla Alpert is available to watch on Intelligence.com, where replays of Forecast sessions are hosted alongside curated learning content.

The discussion offers a thoughtful exploration of creativity, authorship, and responsibility at a moment when technology is reshaping how stories are made and consumed.