A global coalition comprising some of the biggest screenwriting guilds will reportedly push for a set of demands to help protect writers against artificial intelligence.
This includes "robust licensing mechanisms" that require consent from writers if any of their material is used as AI training data.
These demands are part of a wider push against AI by the International Affiliation of Writers Guilds (IAWG) and the Federation of Screenwriters in Europe (FSE), passing a joint resolution outlining five principles regarding AI in scriptwriting, which will be binding on their member guilds in North America, Europe, India, Israel, Korea, New Zealand, and South Africa.
(Photo: FREDERIC J. BROWN/AFP via Getty Images) Actor, director, and cinematographer Mark Gray holds a sign reading "No A.I." as writers and actors stage a solidarity march through Hollywood to Paramount Studios on September 13, 2023. Movie and TV production has halted due to continuing labor shortages.
The resolution also asks member groups to work toward the goal of ensuring that datasets of commercialized LLMs or any other current or future forms of AI contain only intellectual property licensed for such usage by 2024.
The five principles reportedly state that only writers can produce literary works and that large language models and AI cannot be used to replace writers.
They also provide transparency regarding the use of AI-generated material when it comes to providing writing services (such as editing or rewriting), explicitly consent to the use of writers' intellectual property to train AI, ensure that AI is not entitled to copyright or author rights, and introduce fair compensation when writers' intellectual property is included in LLMs or AI programs.
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A Global Call by Screenwriters
Together, these organizations represent over 67,000 professional writers worldwide. The Federation of Screenwriters in Europe comprises twenty-one countries worth of screenwriter-focused unions, guilds, and associations.
The WGA East and West, the Writers' Guild of Great Britain, the Writers Guild of Canada, the Screenwriters Guild of South Korea, and the Société des auteurs de radio, télévision et cinéma are among the fourteen worldwide writers' guilds that make up the worldwide Affiliation of Writers Guilds.
According to Irish screenwriter and IAWG chair Jennifer Davidson, the IAWG aims to expand upon the hard-won rights that its sister guilds in America, the WGAE and the WGAW, were able to secure during their strike.
Specifically, she campaigns for AI to be an instrument to improve the writing process rather than lessen the importance of labor or replace authors.
Netflix CEO on AI
Netflix CEO Ted Sarandos echoed Davidson's comments when he appeared on actor Rob Lowe's SiriusXM podcast last month. He reportedly claimed that AI's place in Hollywood remains as a creator's tool rather than as a replacement for filmmakers.
During the discussion, Sarandos stated that the winners will be the creators who become experts at using these AI tools while advancing human authenticity and the reality of the human experience.
Sarandos concluded that audiences can distinguish between true and "inauthentic" films. However, Sarandos does see a time when Netflix users can use AI to produce their content.
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