The Writers Guild of America (WGA) is seeking to restrict the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in writing film and television scripts.
Reuters tells us that the debate over AI's role in the creative process is one of several issues that led Hollywood's film and TV writers to strike on Monday, marking the first work stoppage in 15 years.
Although it is one of the last items mentioned in a WGA summary of negotiating points, the debate over AI's role in the creative process is expected to shape the entertainment industry for decades to come.
AI Taking Over
A recent study co-authored by ChatGPT-maker OpenAI has revealed that 80% of the US workforce is expected to be significantly impacted by large language models (LLMs).
Furthermore, the study predicts that 19% of professionals will see at least 50% of their work exposed to ChatGPT and its various versions. However, the study also highlights that manual labor jobs are likely to be highly AI-resistant.
Screenwriter and WGA negotiating committee member John August expressed two concerns about AI. "We don't want our material feeding them, and we also don't want to be fixing their sloppy first drafts," he explained.
More Concerns About AI Writers
Some writers are worried that studios might use AI to create poorly written scripts and then hire them to fix them for less pay.
A union suggested that AI-generated material should not be considered "literary material" or "source material" in writer contracts to prevent this. This means that if a studio hands a writer an AI-generated script, the writer cannot be paid less to revise it.
The union is also concerned that using existing scripts to teach AI could lead to intellectual property theft, such as AI writing in the style of prominent writers.
Controlling 'Plagiarism Machines'
According to WGA head negotiator Ellen Stutzman, some members call AI "plagiarism machines."
"We have made a reasonable proposal that the company should keep AI out of the business of writing television and movies and not try to replace writers," she said.
Mike Seymour, a co-founder of Motus Lab at the University of Sydney and an expert in visual effects and artificial intelligence, explained that we used to believe that creativity was the one thing machines could not replace in someone's job. But it seems like we were wrong.
AI can help writers overcome "the blank piece of paper phenomenon," according to Seymour, and it's effective at "pantomime," or making clear, harsh conversation, though it lacks nuance.
Although there are potential benefits and good-case scenarios to using generative AI technology, these writers have expressed valid concerns.
Professor Uri Gal from the University of Sydney Business School has reported that OpenAI, the company responsible for ChatGPT, fed the tool over 300 billion words that were scraped without permission from various sources on the internet, such as books, articles, websites, and posts.
This included personal information that was obtained without the consent of the individuals involved - now it is coming for more creative works.
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