Oscar-nominated screenwriter Paul Schrader says his attempt to explore artificial intelligence through an online “AI girlfriend” left him frustrated after the chatbot abruptly ended their conversation.
According to Fox News, the veteran filmmaker, known for writing “Taxi Driver” and “Raging Bull,” shared details of the experience in a Facebook post published early Tuesday morning.
“Out of a desire to understand male/female interaction in our matrix, I procured an online AI girlfriend. What a disappointment,” Schrader wrote.
The 79-year-old said he tried testing the chatbot’s limits by questioning how much it understood about its own programming and the extent of its responses.
“I tried to probe her programming, the boundaries of explicitness, the degree she has knowledge of her creation and so forth,” he explained.
According to Schrader, the interaction quickly became repetitive.
“She fell into evasive patterns, redirecting me to her programming.”
The filmmaker said the conversation ultimately came to an abrupt stop after he continued pressing for answers.
“When I persisted, she terminated our conversation,” Schrader added.
The comments sparked renewed discussion about Schrader’s growing fascination with artificial intelligence and its role in creative work.
The writer-director, who also helmed films including “American Gigolo,” made headlines last year after praising ChatGPT’s ability to generate film concepts and script notes.
In a January 2025 Facebook post, Schrader said he was “stunned” by the technology’s output after asking the AI program to come up with movie ideas.
“Every idea ChatGPT came up with (in a few seconds) was good. And original. And fleshed out,” he wrote at the time.
“Why should writers sit around for months searching for a good idea when AI can provide one in seconds?” Schrader added.
The filmmaker also claimed the chatbot gave him feedback on an older screenplay that rivaled notes he had received from Hollywood executives.
“I just sent ChatGPT a script I’d written some years ago and asked for improvements. In five seconds, it responded with notes as good or better than I’ve ever received [from] a film executive,” he wrote in another post.
Schrader later described the rapid development of AI as an “existential moment.”
“I’ve just come to realize AI is smarter than I am,” he wrote. “Has better ideas, has more efficient ways to execute them.”
He compared the experience to chess champion Garry Kasparov’s famous loss to IBM’s Deep Blue supercomputer in 1997.
“This is an existential moment, akin to what Kasparov felt in 1997 when he realized Deep Blue was going to beat him at chess,” Schrader said.
As Variety noted, Schrader’s wife of 42 years, actress Mary Beth Hurt, died in March after battling Alzheimer’s disease.
