'Plagiarism machines': Hollywood writers and studios battle over the future of AI
Hollywood writers have for decades penned sci-fi scripts featuring machines taking over the world. Now, they are fighting to make sure robots do not take their jobs.
The Writers Guild of America is seeking to restrict the use of artificial intelligence in writing film and television scripts. Hollywood studios, battling to make streaming services profitable and dealing with shrinking ad revenues, have rejected that idea, saying they would be open to discussing new technologies once a year, according to the guild.
A spokesperson for the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, which is negotiating the contract on behalf of the studios, did not comment.
The dispute over AI is one of several issues that led Hollywood's film and TV writers to strike Monday, marking the first work stoppage in 15 years.
Although the issue is one of the last items described in a WGA summary of negotiating points, many of which focus on improving compensation in the streaming era, the debate over AI's role in the creative process will determine the future of entertainment for decades to come.
Screenwriter John August, a member of the WGA negotiating committee, said writers have two concerns regarding AI.
"We don't want our material feeding them, and we also don't want to be fixing their sloppy first drafts," he said.
At issue is a rapidly growing, multifaceted technology that's swept across global industry.
In Hollywood, AI is helping to erase wrinkles from an aging performer's face, clean up an actor's liberal use of f-bombs and draw animated short films with the aid of OpenAI's Dall-E, which can create realistic images. Some writers are experimenting with creating scripts.
"The problem here seems to be that we thought that creativity, per
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