The Writers Guild of America West (WGA) and Screen Actors Guild (SAG-AFTRA) strikes brought business in the Hollywood film industry to a halt. While other important factors led up to the industrial actions, the production companies’ schemes, also known as the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP), to implement artificial intelligence technologies was the catalyst for the strikes, raising controversial questions about what was at stake for Hollywood.
Image by Alan Frijns from Pixabay
Studios such as Netflix, Fox and Disney have taken part in the manifesto of reshaping content creation through AI by cutting down on human labour to maximise business profit. Proposals included the writing of scripts by generative AI and recycling actors’ past performances for future content without the need for employment. This demonstrated the entertainment industry’s shifted focus in the 21st century, from art to finance. The WGA and SAG-AFTRA recognised the inevitability of AI in the industry. Put simply, they sought agreements where its use would be regulated by AMPTP.
The aim of the agreements put forward by the actors were not to prevent AI completely, but to introduce effective safeguards. For example, by adopting greater transparency in the use of AI and reforming copyright protections. They wanted producers to acknowledge the importance of human performance and the risks of job replacement.
The interim deal reached by WGA in late September 2023 and SAG-AFTRA in November 2023 have won actors and writers increased salaries and modified protection against their images and work being replicated by AI. For example, the newly-created ‘employment-based digital replica’ scheme seeks to ensure that consent is granted by performers and they are being paid accordingly for the utilisation of their image. However, while the agreement is satisfactory, it is unsettling to see how far AMPTP was originally willing to go in its adoption of AI.
According to Forbes, the latest and best offer presented by the AMPTP to SAG-AFTRA proposed using AI-crafted scans of deceased performers’ work. Not only did this proposal raise legal issues concerning IP, copyrights and branding but also posed worrying questions on ethics and morality. As an example, who is responsible for deciding ownership and granting permission for the use of scans of deceased performers? Alongside seeking to secure future employment and maintain art and originality, the strikes were fights to protect performers’ basic rights of privacy and individuality.
British WGA, SAG-AFTRA and Equity members also made sure not to promote any of their new or old content in solidarity with the strikes taking place in the USA. However, UK legislation prevented them from fully striking in solidarity with their colleagues in the United States. Under Section 224 of the Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992, secondary strike action is rendered unlawful in the UK. Striking in support of the WGA and SAG-AFTRA movements were therefore not deemed lawful picketing. As stated by the Hollywood Reporter, anyone striking under an Equity contract in the UK would not have had the same legal protection covering striking workers in the United States.
The UK-specific implications of these strikes have not been thoroughly discussed in UK media. Most UK productions featuring members of the SAG needed to be paused for indefinite periods until an agreement was reached. According to the Guardian, the disruption in Hollywood caused UK film and TV crews to face serious financial hardships, ‘struggling to keep afloat’. It is important to appreciate that AMPTP’s scheme to incorporate unregulated AI technologies proved to be a global problem impacting all entertainment industries.
Artificial intelligence - as a recently introduced tool - has already left a damaging mark on an industry as influential as Hollywood by threatening to substitute intellectual human effort with computer-regulated software. If it was not for the recent agreements concluded by both the WGA and SAG-AFTRA unions, the global downfall of the entertainment industry was a foreseeable possibility. Legal modifications and regulations are of crucial importance to oversee how AI is being used by large corporations.
By Ceren Yildirim (LLB Law Student).