Artificial intelligence is poised to be the next big thing in various industries, including the entertainment sector. But the workers who may one day be replaced by AI are fighting for a say in how we use technology before it gets too big to stop.
Generative AI, AI that can create text, images, and other content, can feel like a magic box. When given a prompt, it spits out more or less correct responses, as if they were written by a human.
Many artists and writers are concerned about the technology’s ability to cheaply and easily mass-produce human-quality works. Artificial intelligence won’t completely replace screenwriters anytime soon, but it can still undermine creative work by giving production studios a cheap, underpaid way to screenwriters.
Brian Sullivan is an attorney who specializes in crisis management for the entertainment industry. “I don’t think people realized until recently that writers see AI as a threat,” he told Next Level.
See more: The History of Hollywood and Strikes: What Happened to Strikes?
The potential threat of AI is one of the issues behind the recent Writers Guild of America strike. Some of the demands when the unions went on strike were aimed at limiting studios’ ability to use AI to cut costs on projects.
Fear of AI also motivated actors to step down from work with screenwriters. The actors’ union SAG-AFTRA cited concerns that actors’ performances could be replicated by artificial intelligence as one justification for the strike.
Hollywood screenwriters are already seeing deals and opportunities dwindle in the face of cost-cutting efforts on the part of studios. In such an environment, it’s hard not to see AI in Hollywood as a cost-cutting measure rather than a creative engine.
Helen Silverstein is a video game writer and co-chair of DSA-LA’s Hollywood Labor Committee. She told Next Level: “So many writers are on Emmy-winning shows, but they eat food stamps, they live in poverty, they live paycheck to paycheck, and they struggle to survive. It’s not just about writing, it’s not just creativity at all.
There may not be much that workers can do to protect themselves from shifts. Strikes only work if the AI isn’t developed enough to cross the picket line. Worker strikes and protests may not change how the technology behind AI is developed, but they can shape how technology is used in the surrounding interest-driven industry.
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