Edinburgh festivals diary: The only man in Scotland who has never seen Trainspotting, written by Irvine Welsh
One man standing behind me had never read or seen Trainspotting.
The Fringe reviews written by an AI bot
It proved surprisingly tricky to get anyone to talk about on the record, but the chat at this year’s Fringe is that an increasing number of reviews are being written by AI.
In a world where the five-star review is the Holy Grail and there are people whose job it is to stick stars on posters all over Edinburgh once they are achieved, this revelation has the potential to upend the entire eco-system of the Fringe.
I investigated the issue after comedian Kieran Hodges spoke at a panel event where he warned it was rife - and found the practice is acknowledged to be widespread, but difficult to prove.
The theory is that lazy reviewers - or people employed at the lowest possible cost by some unscrupulous review websites - record entire shows on their phone, then upload them to the likes of ChatGPT with the instruction to write a review.
One producer told me about a review that had discussed at length a song performed by one artist at the end of her act, which wasn’t a song at all, but was her speaking words over some music.
"The only possible explanation is that a recording of the show, which has the music playing, has been uploaded to AI," he said.
Without fair and educated reviews, the Fringe is nothing. If AI-generated opinions take over, it could turn into nothing more than a lucky dip of madness. Do you think you have the same sense of humour as a computer? I hope not.
Trainspotting? What’s it about?
The closing ceremony for this year’s Edinburgh International Film Festival (EIFF) welcomed an enthusiastic crowd to the premiere of Reality Is Not Enough, a documentary about Trainspotting author Irvine Welsh.
The film, which follows Welsh’s life at a point when he is becoming aware of his own mortality, provoked a more vocal response from fans than I have seen in the vast majority of any Fringe shows. This was possibly because Welsh himself was there - and also due to the popularity of Trainspotting, once named Scotland’s favourite book and one of the best-known texts and films in recent Scottish history.
“Trainspotting isn’t my best book, but it’s what I’ll be remembered by,” Welsh admits in the documentary.
That is, except to the man standing behind me in the queue to get into the film.
“What’s it about?” he asked his companion, who had mentioned Trainspotting. “Without giving away any spoilers.”
Whether he managed to get through Reality Is Not Enough without any Trainspotting spoilers seems unlikely.
The event also saw the winners announced for the Sean Connery Prize for Feature Filmmaking Excellence, which was won by Mortician.
The film’s Iranian director, Abdolreza Kahani, was charmingly self deprecating.
“Now Sean Connery’s statue is in my hands, I must make better things,” he said.
Comments
Want to join the conversation? Please or to comment on this article.