Why the Writers Strike Matters to all Creatives
The tentative deal reached between the Writer's Guild of America and the studios includes limits on AI intrusion that feel like a sigh of relief.
Generative AI (#GenAI) was central to the 146-day Writer’s Strike and the tentative deal reached, with writers seeking assurances about fair pay even as AI like #ChatGPT could be used to help write scripts.
Fortunately the tentative deal reached late Sunday night includes "guarantees that artificial intelligence technology will not encroach on writers’ credits and compensation," the 纽约时报 .
As a former freelance copywriter and journalist, I'm curious how the deal would set the stage to impact gig work for all creatives. Whether the studios chose to include such protections on writers' creativity or refused to limit the scope of AI would be telling.
Here's what we know so far.
The Issue
Generative AI is now capable of just about anything you can hire a freelancer for: graphic design, video editing, administrative work, and editing. That's why I love dabbling in prompt engineering and learning ways to use GenAI to support the craft of social media writing.*
According to GenAI experts, it’s decades too early to eliminate humans from the process. Currently all user-friendly AI applications still need a human touch for prompting, quality control, and editing. So it makes sense that a basic request of the Writers Guild Of America, USA (WGA) was to "Regulate use of artificial intelligence" on their projects, creating clear distinctions between works written by humans verse AI.
Given that it took 146 days of picketing and several long days of negotiations to come to an understanding on this, it's clear that such technology is now getting attention from business leaders in a meaningful way. It's up to creatives to learn how to use the tools to our advantage.
?? Copyright law
There aren't many laws in place governing the use of AI in creative processes, but copyright law provides some perspective.
A creative work like a script isn't much to a production powerhouse if it can't own the copyright to reproduce and commercialize it. Yet US law maintains that only works specifically created by humans can be copyrighted– and not works produced solely by #AI.
? There is a caveat here. If writers are engaged to edit or “touch up” the AI-written scripts, then it can be copyrighted – but to whom? Under the “work-for-hire” law, work done by authors hired by a third party could ultimately belong to the third party (which is why work produced by full-time creative and freelancers isn't copyrighted to them but to their employer).
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Without regulations on the use of Generative AI in the scripting or creative process, it's easy to imagine near future in which writers are training and editing AI-written content at the cost of owning the rights and thus fair pay associated with it.
?? Keep Entertainment Creative
When was the last time you tried prompting ChatGPT to write a script? When you do, you’ll find the Language Learning Model can create a blueprint for what a script could look like… but it lacks the character, emotion, style, and even basic dialogue of what constitutes a movie script. And don’t just take my word – TechCrunch writer Amanda Silberling acknowledges that these machine learning tools like ChatGPT “are not built to entertain us.”
? Potential for Bias and Harm
Entertainment often touches on sensitive themes, diverse identities and experiences, and stories based on, or inspired by, real life. Recently Business Recorder wrote that most journalists reported ethical concerns over GenAI's ability to produce “accuracy, fairness, and transparency.”
These journalistic values are central to telling real stories that affect real people, including in entertainment. Without human writers involved in the writing and editing, there’s a risk of producing content that inaccurately represents people or situations–and even content that perpetuates harmful stereotypes.
What Comes Next
Writers are still needed in the scripting and editing process for ideation, quality, and, well, entertainment. And because they are as essential to storytelling as ever, they deserve fair pay for their work.
The tentative deal reached seems hopeful that writers' work and pay still takes priority in the creative, quality, and ethical process. Refusing to acknowledge their importance is akin to saying the quality of a script doesn't matter.
What do you think is the right business decision? Should the negotiators consider ethics and the long-term implications of their agreement?
*While I often use #ChatGPT to help draft words for me and my personal content, this post is 100% written and edited by me, a human.
#GenerativeAI #LLM #WritersStrike
Guitarist, Public Speaker, Radio and Television host.
1 年it would be much harder for AI to replace writers if you wrote anytiong original. but you don't. if you're reducing your role to rote formula, then a machine is cheaper for the same result. We can all write and MCU movie at this point. you don't need picasso to paint by numbers.
Communication for impact
1 年Content marketing is a creative process, though probably not as creative as a TV or movie script. I can see a role for generative AI in it and product marketing, so it’s good to think about all the implications of its use. I’ve got a lot to learn.