WGA go on strike to address AI’s threat

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By Nada Ali
WGA on strike
Striking writers hold signs as they march and picket calling for better wages outside NBC’s Peacock NewFront presentation in New York on Tuesday. Photo Credit: AP

Thousands of Writers Guild of America (WGA) went on strike this week, in a move to cut the rise of generative artificial intelligence like ChatGPT, chatbot that has captivated people in creative professions recently, NBC News said on Wednesday.

“AI can’t write or rewrite literary material; can’t be used as source material; and MBA-covered [contract-covered] material can’t be used to train AI,” according to union’s specific demand that released on Monday.

The WGA strike started at 12:01 a.m. PT on Tuesday, a minute after its contract with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) expired.

The Guild was confirmed on Twitter that the strike indeed would happen about three hours prior to the midnight deadline.

AMPTP responded by saying it was willing to improve on its offer but was not willing to meet some of the union’s demands, such as staff a show with a certain number of writers for a specified period of time, whether needed or no.

When NBC News asked ChatGPT to write an original episode of the HBO anthology series “The White Lotus,” it has shown that it is capable of generating six-paragraph outline featuring characters from the first season in new scenarios.

ChatGPT is on hand to weigh in, as the former WGA president Howard A. Rodman discovered when he asked the chatbot to write a response to a tweet about the studios’ rejecting the guild’s AI proposal.

“The response from the AMPTP seems dismissive of the WGA’s concerns. It’s important to consider the potential consequences of automation on the livelihoods of writers and other creative professionals.”

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