When the union representing Hollywood writers submitted a list of contract negotiations with studios this spring, it included the issue of remuneration, which the writers say either hasn’t changed or has been reduced.

Below that document, however, was a section titled “Professional Standards and Employment Protection for Writers,” where the union stated that its goal was “to regulate the use of AI-generated content.”

To the group of computer programmers, marketing copywriters, travel consultants, lawyers and comic book illustrators suddenly alarmed by the prowess of creative AI, you can now add screenwriters.

“Maybe the next time we negotiate, they’ll just say, ‘You know what, you don’t have to do this,'” said Mike Suhr, creator of The Good Place and co-creator of Parks and Recreation. “We have artificial intelligence that creates entertainment content that satisfies people.”

Schur, a member of the Writers Guild of America negotiating committee, said the union wanted to “draw the line and say, ‘Writers are people.’

At the same time, historians warn that unions have failed to rein in the new technologies that enable automation. “I can’t find any union that has achieved this,” said Jason Reznikoff, an associate professor of history at the University of Groningen in the Netherlands who studies labor and automation.

In December, Apple introduced a service that allows book publishers to use human-voiced AI storytellers. This innovation could replace hundreds of voice actors translating audiobooks for a living. The company’s website says the service will be useful to independent writers and small publishers.

Actors fear that studios will use artificial intelligence to copy their voices. “We’ve seen it happen – there are database websites that have the voices of characters from video games and cartoons,” said actress Lindsey Russo.

Actors point out that studios are already using artificial intelligence to replicate certain movements or facial expressions. The 2018 blockbuster Black Panther relied heavily on this technology.

At the same time, Hollywood writers are increasingly worried about ChatGPT’s writing skills.

John Auguste, screenwriter of films such as Charlie’s Angels and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, said that while artificial intelligence has taken a back seat, the union has made key demands on the issue.

“A terrible case: “Oh, I read your scripts, I didn’t like the scene, so I asked ChatGPT to rewrite the scene” – this script is a nightmare for us,” Mr. Auguste said.

SAG-AFTRA, the actors’ union, says more of its members are signing contracts in which studios claim the right to use their voices for other work.

A recent contract with Netflix was aimed at giving the company free use of an actor’s voice simulation “with all technologies and processes currently known or to be developed in the future, throughout the universe and forever.”

The Film and Television Producers Alliance, which is in talks with various unions representing writers, actors and directors on behalf of major Hollywood studios, declined to comment.

However, it is characteristic how pilots and medics reacted to the issue of automation a few years ago. By the end of the 1990s, the crew on most domestic commercial flights had been reduced to two. Since then, there have been no cuts or cuts, despite advances in technology.

“The safety net you have when you’re above ground is two well-trained, experienced, well-rested pilots,” said Capt. Dennis Teiger, spokesman for the Allied Pilots Association, which represents American Airlines pilots. So far, flights lasting more than nine hours have required at least three pilots.

The replacement of some doctors by artificial intelligence, which some experts predicted was inevitable in fields such as radiology, has also not taken place. This is partly due to the limitations of the technology and the prestige of doctors who have entered the high-stakes discussion about the safety and development of artificial intelligence.

Whether screenwriters achieve the same success will depend, at least in part, on whether there are limitations inherent in the machines that have to do their jobs.

Source: New York Times.