Since AI’s boom in popularity with the launch of tools such as ChatGPT, everyone’s been talking about its potential to transform various industries. However, AI’s most controversial and contentious applications have been in the entertainment industry. Its skill in writing scripts has caused debate on whether it could threaten the jobs of real humans or not. These fears were a centerpiece of the recent Hollywood strikes that lasted nearly half a year.
Beginning on May 2, 2023, the Writers Guild of America (WGA), a union representing thousands of film, television, and radio writers, went on strike. The WGA had many demands regarding compensation and contracts. When a show reruns, the production pays the writers a cut of the advertising profits in residuals, a type of royalty. For middle-class writers, this is a significant source of income. However, with the rise in popularity of subscription-based streaming, re-airing shows are dying out, and writers receive only a minuscule cut from shows that are streamed rather than rerun. As a result, they demanded increases in minimum compensation, more stable pay structures, and fairer contracts. However, they also demanded protections against the use of AI.
The threat of AI is clear. It can efficiently write stories, scripts, and dialogue that closely resemble human creativity at a fraction of the cost. The WGA feared that the potential of AI in the entertainment industry could undermine the livelihoods of human writers. The WGA sought to establish safeguards against the use of AI in the creative writing process. The writers’ strike also coincided with the actors’ union’s efforts to regulate the use of AI. The fear for actors was even more complex, as they faced the potential of AI deepfakes replacing background actors or simulating performances and facial expressions. The WGA proposed a ban on Hollywood studios training AI on preexisting materials, but the studios rejected the proposal, instead offering to hold annual meetings to discuss the impact of AI on the entertainment business.
In the end, the WGA came to an agreement with the studios regarding AI. This agreement outlined the following:
- AI is prohibited from writing or rewriting material.
- Writers may use AI how they see fit, as long as it complies with company policies. Contrarily, companies cannot force writers to use AI.
- Companies presenting AI-generated materials to writers must explicitly disclose the origin of such content.
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