Hollywood Writers and Studios Battle over the Future of AI, calls it ‘Plagiarism Machines’

New Delhi (India), 3rd May 2023: The Writers Guild of America is attempting to limit the use of artificial intelligence in film and television scriptwriting. According to the guild, Hollywood studios, which are fighting to make streaming services sustainable while also grappling with dwindling ad income, have rejected that suggestion, stating they would be open to exploring new technology once a year.

The disagreement over AI is one of numerous factors that prompted Hollywood’s film and television writers to strike on Monday, the first work stoppage in 15 years.

Despite the fact that it is one of the final issues mentioned in a WGA summary of negotiating objectives, many of which centre on enhancing compensation in the streaming era, the fight over AI’s participation in the creative process will influence the future of entertainment for decades to come.

Screenwriter and WGA negotiating committee member John August expressed two concerns about AI.

He said, “We don’t want our material feeding them, and we also don’t want to be fixing their sloppy first drafts.”

The union recommended that material generated by an AI system, such as ChatGPT, be excluded from the definitions of “literary material” and “source material,” which are already stated in their contract.

That means that if a studio executive hands a writer an AI-generated script to revise, the writer cannot be paid a lower rewrite or polish rate.

The union claims that existing scripts should not be utilised to teach artificial intelligence since this would allow for intellectual property theft.

WGA chief negotiator Ellen Stutzman said some members have another term for AI: “plagiarism machines.”

She further added, “We have made a reasonable proposal that the company should keep AI out of the business of writing television and movies and not try and replace writers.”