Per the WGA's summary:<p>1) AI can’t write or rewrite literary material, and AI-generated material will not be considered source material under the MBA, meaning that AI-generated material can’t be used to undermine a writer’s credit or separated rights.<p>2) A writer can choose to use AI when performing writing services, if the company consents and provided that the writer follows applicable company policies, but the company can’t require the writer to use AI software (e.g., ChatGPT) when performing writing services.<p>3) The Company must disclose to the writer if any materials given to the writer have been generated by AI or incorporate AI-generated material.<p>4) The WGA reserves the right to assert that exploitation of writers’ material to train AI is prohibited by MBA or other law.
I think this is eminently sensible as a solution to this problem. AI is a tool that skilled professionals can use for productivity. This idea that AI was just going to replace writers never really made much sense - the generation of the actual text is only one part of the job and not the important part of the creative process. This way the writers have the freedom to use this new tooling, the Studios don't get to dictate which tools writers use (just like they're not going to insist on you using a specific brand of computer), and if in aggregate this increases productivity... well that's just great, that's the free market. And importantly, the writer is the one using and experiencing the productivity benefit. In aggregate that might drive the total demand for writers down, but again, that's just the free market.
What about the SAG-AFTRA? Have they reached any agreement regarding AI?<p>When AI became plausible and produced full body deepfakes, I concluded that it was only a matter of time to use AI to extend and emulate real actors.<p>The sensible agreement should have been that an actor, via an agency, or a software stack, will control their full body AI avatar. And they will license them to studios for a movie or a commercial ad. They will charge maybe 20%-90% of the fees that they receive.<p>BUT, it blew my mind that studios were audacious enough to float the idea or propose that actors will be paid a small hourly wage or minimum wage for small actors for scanning their bodies, and after that the studios get to keep and use the digital avatar for perpetuity for free.<p>Whoa!<p>I was shocked to learned that. There was, as expected, dispute.<p>What happened to that part?
# of Episodes, Minimum # of writers in writers’ room<p>---------------------------------<p>6 or fewer, 3<p>7-12, 5<p>13+, 6<p>Minimum number of writers? Ok, go ahead and tell me that union labor isn't about padding payrolls.
I don't understand in the slightest how modern "writers" can demand anything at all. Recent scripts everywhere have been disaster after disaster after disaster, with only a handful of mostly indie exceptions.