Alphabet’s DeepMind has created an artificial intelligence tool that can help start work on a script for a play or a movie.

Dramatron is a so-called “collaborative authoring tool” that can generate character descriptions, plot points, descriptions of locations and dialogues. The idea is that human scriptwriters will be able to compile, edit and rewrite what Dramatron offers into a suitable script.

You will need an OpenAI API key to get started and, to reduce the risk of that Dramatron will issue “offensive text”, API key Perspective.

To test the tool, 15 playwrights and screenwriters were engaged to co-write scripts. The playwrights said they would not use the tool to create a full-fledged play and found that the results of the AI’s work could be formulaic. However, they suggested that the Dramatron would be useful for world-building or help them explore other approaches to changing plot elements or characters. They noted that AI could also be useful for “generating creative ideas.”

Using an AI tool can raise questions about authorship and who (or what) should get credit for the script. Last year, the UK Court of Appeal ruled that artificial intelligence cannot be legally recognized as an inventor in a patent.

DeepMind notes that Dramatron can release snippets of text that were used to train the language model, and if these snippets were used in a script, it could lead to accusations of plagiarism.