Adolescence writer Jack Thorne warns AI could shut out new talent

Adolescence co-creator Jack Thorne has warned that artificial intelligence could weaken the opportunities that allow new writers to build careers. His concern is that replacing parts of the writing process could also reduce the industry’s willingness to invest in people still finding their voice.

Thorne, whose credits include His Dark Materials, Enola Holmes and the stage play Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, raised the issue at London’s Creative Intelligence Festival on September 13, 2026. He argued that writers could lose opportunities gradually as companies hand more creative work to AI.

How new writers could lose their chance

Thorne outlined a possible future in which AI generates story ideas, supplies rewrites and leaves human writers with a narrower role. These were warnings about how production could change, rather than evidence that every studio already works this way.

Generative AI is technology that produces material such as text, images or video in response to instructions. In writing, those instructions can ask a system to suggest a premise, produce dialogue or revise an existing scene.

Thorne’s concern extends to the decisions made before a programme reaches production. If companies believe they can generate an acceptable substitute, he argued, supporting an emerging writer could become less attractive.

He used Michaela Coel’s development as an example, tracing the journey from Chewing Gum Dreams through Chewing Gum to I May Destroy You. Each stage, he said, depended on other people investing time, resources and belief in her work.

Disclosure and payment

Thorne called for greater transparency about the material used to train AI systems and payment for copyright holders whose work is used. He also wanted consequences for writers who secretly pass generated material off as their own.

He distinguished that practice from using technology for research, discussion or spelling checks. His proposed restrictions concerned handing over the writing itself while concealing how it had been produced.

Those demands were proposals for stronger protections. His speech did not announce new rules or establish how many writing opportunities AI has already displaced.

Protecting the route into writing

Thorne also proposed a dedicated Copyright Institute to monitor AI’s development and recommend intervention. Alongside protecting existing work, he wanted greater support for new voices, including through lower budget drama and regional theatre.

For emerging writers, that connects the AI debate to a practical question about access to work. Protecting established names would offer limited reassurance if the opportunities to develop the next generation were allowed to disappear.

Image credit: West End Theatres