By: Karina Paup Byrnes

On October 9^th, 2023, the Writers Guild of America (WGA) strike ended when the WGA successfully ratified a new three-year contract with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP). The AMPTP represents hundreds of studios and production companies, including Netflix, Universal Pictures, Disney, Paramount Pictures, and Warner Brothers. One of the issues at the heart of this contractual dispute were provisions pertaining to the use of artificial intelligence (AI) to generate scripts, therefore lessening the need for traditional writers. The WGA is acutely aware of how new technology can change scriptwriting: in recent history, studios have used the popularity of consuming media through streaming to decrease their writers’ pay. Instead of allowing studios to dictate how new technology is diffused into scriptwriting, the WGA demanded that writers had contractual protections against studios exploiting the use of AI in the writers’ room.

The potential effects of AI echoing the same negative consequences of streaming technology led the WGA to be proactive in asserting the need of regulating how AI would be implemented. The fact that the WGA wanted control over how AI would be used in writers’ rooms was an issue that the AMPTP did not want to compromise on. Ultimately, the strike successfully led studios to agree to limit the use of AI, along with other WGA provisions. The new contract signaled a major victory for collective labor movements because this was a highly publicized instance of restricting the use of AI in a particular employment sector. However, even with the WGA contract finalized, there are still unanswered questions about how technology incorporated into scriptwriting, specifically AI, will impact writers’ rooms legally.

In 2012, Netflix introduced a new way of consuming content called “streaming” which allowed users to watch television through an internet connection. Streaming changed the way viewers watched TV, creating a ripple effect that altered the way platforms produced scripted television. Prior to the streaming boom, networks hired writers to draft 20 or more episodes a show per season. Each time networks aired these episodes, writers received a royalty check for their writing credits. Once streaming became the most popular way to consume content, a season of TV often became shortened to about half as many episodes. With television shows now being watched on a streaming platform and no longer broadcasted, writers received fewer residuals for their projects. Suddenly, writers were getting hired for shorter projects and were receiving smaller paychecks.

As WGA members felt the effects of streaming over the previous decade, an additional disruption in TV technology loomed: the use of AI to create television scripts. The WGA is keenly aware of the potential consequences that AI can have for writers. Therefore, WGA members sought to define the limitations of AI during contract bargaining, establishing regulations of AI in scriptwriting before the tool would interfere with writers’ rooms like streaming did. This was a major point of contention between the WGA and the AMPTP during the negotiation process because in the past, major studios used the power of technology to increase financial gain and content production, often at the cost of their writers.

The new contract between the WGA and the AMPTP is a significant win for writers. The agreement stipulates that AI cannot be used to write or rewrite scripts and prevents AI-generated writing from being classified as source material. The contract specifies that all writing credits will be maintained by TV writers themselves, not AI programs. In addition, writers can independently decide to use AI should they choose to, but studios cannot mandate that writers use AI in their scripts. Finally, all AI-generated materials from studios that make it into the writers’ rooms must be labeled as such.

The step of outlining specific provisions pertaining to AI in the WGA contract demonstrates the members’ awareness of how technology can and will impact the future of their livelihood. Due to legal gaps in the regulation of AI-creation tools on both federal and state levels, collective bargaining groups and unions are incentivized to take their own measures in determining how AI will be regulated in the workplace.

This however does not mean that all problems related to AI in the TV industry are solved through the ratified contract. Beyond the concern that AI could replace the need for writer’s rooms, there are important unanswered legal questions regarding how television scripts written by AI would be regulated. If AI were to be used for a TV show, it is unknown how the AI technology would affect compensation for a drafted work product, let alone how to factor in the compensation for residuals of reruns of any episodes. Even more problematic is the fact that AI is unable to distinguish between copywritten material and material that is available to freely source. There have already been a growing number of copyright infringement suits brought by writers against AI companies for generating text from the writers’ works through the AI’s algorithm. The use of AI as a writing tool will create a new chapter of legal battles that have yet to be tested.  

The ratification of the WGA contract signals that there are real and concrete apprehensions of how technology can shape the way we create and consume media. With many unknowns regarding the legalities of AI, it is natural that artists and creators want to protect and preserve space for traditional scriptwriting. Only time will tell how the issue of AI will continue changing the TV industry. But for now, the WGA has sent the message that they will continue to fight for financial fairness in the writers’ room.