After almost five months, the Writers Guild of America (WGA) has reached an agreement with Hollywood studios to finish the writers strike. Starting Wednesday, writers will give you the option to resume work under the conditions established by their recent contract.
Throughout the historic strike, AI emerged as a key point of contention between the writers and studios. Though text-based generative AI tools like ChatGPT are very creatively limited as they stand, writers fearful that studios would still attempt to make the most of these fast-developing tools to avoid paying union members.
“I’m not fearful in regards to the technology,” comedy author Adam Conover told TechCrunch firstly of the strike. “I’m fearful in regards to the corporations using technology, that just isn’t in truth superb, to undermine our working conditions.”
Together with higher residual payments, minimum writers room staffing, and other terms that help screenwriters make a living, the WGA’s recent contract outlines limitations on how AI could be utilized in writers’ rooms.
Per the agreement, AI can’t be used to put in writing or rewrite scripts, and AI-generated writing can’t be considered source material, which prevents writers from losing out on writing credits because of AI.
On a person level, writers can select to make use of AI tools in the event that they so desire. Nonetheless, an organization cannot mandate that writers use certain AI tools while working on a production. Studios must also tell writers in the event that they are given any AI-generated materials to include right into a work.
Because the WGA’s summary of the contract states, “The WGA reserves the proper to claim that exploitation of writers’ material to coach AI is prohibited by [the contract] or other law.”
Currently, the legal relationship between large language models and copyrighted material is murky. But where federal and state law lags behind, the WGA’s bargaining agreement makes clear that union members don’t consent to their work getting used to coach studios’ AIs.
The actors union, SAG-AFTRA, stays on strike, and on Monday, its members voted overwhelmingly to authorize a strike against the video game industry as well. While bargaining on behalf of stunt, motion capture and voice actors in video games, SAG-AFTRA has also expressed concerns about how AI might be used to undermine union members’ creative work.
“For a lot of performers, their first job could also be their last, as corporations turn out to be increasingly wanting to scan our members or train AI with their voices as soon as they show up for work,” reads the SAG-AFTRA website.
It’s yet to be determined how the contract for SAG-AFTRA members will pan out, however the WGA’s agreement sets a precedent for establishing limitations against how AI could be utilized in creative professions.