The WGA Strike Ends, with a Tentative Deal including Frameworks on AI
The WGA announced the end of picketing as a tentative deal had been reached with the AMPTP, answering to the union’s demands including protecting writers and their works against the rise of AI technologies.
After an intense 146-day strike, Hollywood writers and studios have finally broken ground on a tentative agreement, marking an end to one of the longest writers’ work stoppages in Hollywood's history. Although no details about the term have been released yet, the Writers Guild of America (WGA) announced that they had suspended the picketing, now waiting for authorization for writers to officially return to work. The tentative deal reached between the WGA and the AMPTP addresses the key concerns of the strike over AI and compensation.
The WGA strike, involving its 11,500 members, aimed to address concerns ranging from better residuals from streaming platforms to the increasing role of AI in the realm of creativity and content creation. The WGA, highlighting the potential of AI to supplant human writers, have been advocating for clear boundaries to ensure that human creativity remains at the forefront of Hollywood productions. They sought guarantees against the usage of AI for writing or rewriting "literary material" and were wary of AI models being trained on their contributions. This corresponds to the topic of copyright infringement in AI training and the increasing demand from writers and authors to protect copyrighted content against the developing technology.
Though the specifics of the agreement are yet to be revealed in full as the language is being finalized in the coming days, preliminary insights suggest that the WGA's demands have been largely met. The new three-year contract could include enhanced royalty payments for streaming content and crucial clauses that protect the role and compensation of writers in the age of AI. The crucial safeguards ensure that the use of artificial intelligence does not dilute or replace the unique human aspect of and contribution to scriptwriting, and the eventual outcome and finalized deal terms will influence contractual norms in Hollywood for years.
The rise of AI, and its implications for various industries, has been a topic of global concern. While writers have reached a tentative agreement with the studios, SAG-AFTRA’s strike continues, echoing similar concerns about residual payments and AI's burgeoning role in the industry that might affect their work.
Although the detailed wording on the use of human-created content for AI training or AI-generated materials in scriptwriting is not public yet, the tentative agreement is not just a resolution of the one strike action, but a blueprint for the future, setting the stage for how Hollywood will navigate the intersections of creativity and technology in practice.