The 2023 strike by the Writers Guild of America (WGA) against the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP), brought the issue of AI use in entertainment into the public consciousness. It was a key issue that drove the nearly 5 month strike, and there was some very precedent-setting and important ground laid between the guild and the studios by writers who were and are very concerned about generative AI being used to replace them.
The section related to AI below is from a summary of the finalized agreement that is linked below:
5. Artificial Intelligence
We have established regulations for the use of artificial intelligence (“AI”) on MBA-covered projects in the following ways:
- 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.
- 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.
- The Company must disclose to the writer if any materials given to the writer have been generated by AI or incorporate AI-generated material.
- The WGA reserves the right to assert that exploitation of writers’ material to train AI is prohibited by MBA or other law.
Here are a couple of great articles analyzing the agreement:
Image source: Official WGA graphic made freely available to people to support the WGA
