American Hollywood screenwriters launch first large-scale strike in 15 years as AI threatens survival

According to news on May 3, artificial intelligence (AI) is increasingly used in Hollywood. It can not only modify the appearance, language and movements of actors, but also draw animated short films and even try to create scripts for movies and TV series. This makes Hollywood screenwriters feel an unprecedented threat. They are worried that AI will infringe on their creativity and copyright, or even replace their work. In order to protect their interests, they launched a strike action on Monday, demanding restrictions on the use of AI in screenwriting.

This Tuesday, 15 years of labor peace in Hollywood was shattered as a large number of writers went into strike mode. This is a game between the Hollywood Screen and Television Writers Guild (WGA) and the American Motion Picture and Television Production Alliance (AMPTP). The WGA represents about 15,000 screenwriters, while the AMPTP is the organization that negotiates contracts for major Hollywood studios. The two sides disagree on a number of issues, one of which is the role of AI.

The WGA made two demands regarding AI: First, studios are not allowed to use AI-generated material as "literary material" or "source material," which means that if a studio lets a screenwriter modify a If the script is generated by AI, then the screenwriter cannot be paid a lower rewriting or polishing fee; secondly, the studio is not allowed to use existing scripts to train AI, which may lead to the theft of intellectual property rights. The WGA said some members have called AI "plagiarism machines" and said companies should exclude AI from film and television creation and not try to replace screenwriters.

AMPTP rejected the WGA's request, saying they were willing to discuss new technology issues annually, but did not elaborate. An AMPTP spokesman had no comment. As studios face the challenge of boosting revenue and dealing with declining advertising revenue in the streaming era, they may look to AI to reduce costs and increase efficiency.

WGA negotiating committee member and screenwriter John August said screenwriters have two concerns about AI: "We don't want to fatten them with our material, and we don't want to fix their messy first drafts." For example, he said, one could imagine a studio using all of Nora Ephron's scripts to train an AI. , and let it be written in her style as a comedy. The WGA's proposal is designed to prevent this from happening.

Writer Warren Wright, who served as the creator and executive producer of the NBC drama "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit", said that AI can produce some chaotic works. "The studio may not hire you to write the first draft, but hire you to write the second draft, thus paying you less, to nip this situation in the bud."

This The debate over AI is one of the many reasons leading to the Hollywood writers' strike. Many of the reasons involve how to improve writers' compensation in the streaming media era. The direct reason for the strike is that the two sides failed to agree on the average annual income of writers. . The WGA's proposed salary amount is about $429 million per year, while the AMPTP's proposed amount is only about $86 million per year.

WGA chief negotiator Ellen Stutzman said: "We made a reasonable proposal that companies should exclude AI from film and television creation and not try to replace screenwriters."

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