How the Writers Guild of America is now protected from Artificial Intelligence

Hollywood breathed a collective sigh of relief when writers returned to work a couple of weeks ago.

For over 150 days, several movie and television productions have been put on hold as writers took to picket lines outside the headquarters of major studios.

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The two main reasons for the strike were the emergence of Artificial Intelligence tools like ChatGPT which can be used as a creation device for stories and residual payments from streaming platforms.

In May of 2020, a Minimum Basic Agreement principle was put in place which assured writers of a guaranteed wage while working on broadcast television shows, but this guaranteed wage does not apply to streaming shows, meaning writers are majorly out of pocket after working for the likes of Netflix, Prime and Disney+.

Writers will now receive royalties from those streaming platforms.

As for AI, writers now have agreements in place to protect themselves.

• AI can’t write or rewrite literary material, and AI-generated material will not be considered source material under the MBA, meaning that AI-generated material can’t be used to undermine a writer’s credit or separated rights. 
• A writer can choose to use AI when performing writing services, if the company consents and provided that the writer follows applicable company policies, but the company can’t require the writer to use AI software (e.g., ChatGPT) when performing writing services. 
• The Company must disclose to the writer if any materials given to the writer have been generated by AI or incorporate AI-generated material.
• The WGA reserves the right to assert that exploitation of writers’ material to train AI is prohibited by MBA or other law.

The entire WGA agreement can be found here.