The Writers Guild of America has convinced Hollywood not to use generative artificial intelligence to produce or modify scripts.
A tentative agreement between the guild and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, which has brought an end to the monthslong strike but still needs ratification by rank-and-file members, included terms stipulating that artificial intelligence cannot be used to write or rewrite literary material or to generate original source material.
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The two sides “agree that because neither traditional AI nor [generative AI] is a person, neither is a ‘writer’ or ‘professional writer,'” the agreement states.
The agreement does not bar writers from using generative AI bots, such as OpenAI’s ChatGPT, assuming the production company consents. A company cannot compel a writer to use ChatGPT, however.
There are still legal uncertainties around the use of a writer’s content to train a chatbot. The agreement recognizes the uncertainty around whether and how writers’ work is protected by copyright law from being used to train AI models, but reserves the right of writers to assert that their work cannot be used to train AI.
Separately, the Screen Actors Guild is still on strike but is expected to return to the negotiating table in the coming days.
AMPTP will still need to resolve SAG-AFTRA’s objections to certain AI uses involving an actor’s image. Studios wanted to make digital scans of extras and actors and keep them forever to use in the background of future films in exchange for a single day of pay, SAG-AFTRA National Executive Director Duncan Crabtree-Ireland claimed at a press conference in July.
The AMPTP disputed Crabtree-Ireland’s statement. The scan “only permits a company to use the digital replica of a background actor in the motion picture for which the background actor is employed,” a spokesperson said. Any future uses of the image would require the actor’s consent and minimum payment.
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The debate centers on the notion of a person’s “right to publicity,” Rod Berman, chairman of Jeffer Mangels Butler and Mitchell’s Intellectual Property Group, told the Washington Examiner. The right to publicity protects an individual’s appearance in public forums and how they are presented. Only 35 states recognize the right to publicity.
Several bestselling authors, including John Grisham and George R.R. Martin, filed a suit against ChatGPT developer OpenAI last week over allegations that their books had been used to train the bot.
