The Hollywood Writers' Strike Is Over and Yes, Studios Can Use AI

The Writers’ Guild of America reached a tentative agreement with production studios on Sunday, bringing the 148-day-long film and TV writers’ strike to an end on Wednesday as members will soon begin to vote on ratification. A summary of the union’s new Minimum Basic Agreement (MBA) with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers was released late Tuesday night, and the strike officially ended at 12:01 a.m. on Wednesday morning. 

“We can say, with great pride, that this deal is exceptional—with meaningful gains and protections for writers in every sector of the membership,” the WGA said in a statement when the tentative agreement was announced. 

The summary of the MBA states that writers gained significant ground in relation to protections from studios’ use of artificial intelligence, which was a crucial bargaining point. Initially, the Guild had proposed that artificial intelligence couldn’t be used to write or rewrite material produced by writers—the AMPTP had rejected the proposal and “countered by offering annual meetings to discuss advancements in technology,” the union said. 

The new tentative agreement does not outright prohibit the use of AI in the writers’ room, but regulates how AI can be credited or trained.

“The Companies agree that because neither traditional AI nor GAI is a person, neither is a ‘writer’ or ‘professional writer,’” the Memorandum of Agreement reads, referring to generative AI models like ChatGPT. “Therefore, written material produced by traditional AI or GAI shall not be considered literary material under this or any prior MBA.” 

Because AI-generated material will not be considered “literary material,” the AI that produced it can’t be given writing credit, which ensures that it cannot “undermine a writer’s credit or separated rights,” the summary states. 

The agreement also states that companies must disclose if any material they provide to a writer is AI-generated. That material cannot be considered “assigned material for purposes of determining the writer’s compensation” or “source material for purposes of determining writing credit,” the agreement states. 

Companies cannot require a writer to use AI when producing material, and cannot use AI to undermine a writer’s credit or compensation—but if the company consents, a writer can elect to use AI when producing a script. “Such written material shall be considered literary material and not material ‘produced’ by GAI,” the agreement states. 

The agreement gives a couple examples of how this might look in practice: A studio might give a writer an AI-generated screenplay, and ask them to rewrite it. The agreement states that the writer will be paid no less than the minimum rate for writing a screenplay and the AI-generated script will not be considered source material for the purposes of credit. The same logic applies for rewrites. If a studio presents a writer with an AI-generated story and asks a writer to create a teleplay from it, then they must be paid the normal writing rate and the generated material cannot be considered a source.  

Finally, the summary states, the union can assert that “exploitation” of writers’ work to train generative AI models is a violation of the agreement or other relevant law. A WGA spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment asking whether this means all literary material cannot be used to train AI, or whether the union simply reserves the right to contest a studio’s usage of it.

“The parties acknowledge that the legal landscape around the use of GAI is uncertain and rapidly developing and each party is reserving all rights relating thereto unless otherwise expressly addressed in this Article 72,” the agreement states. “Nothing in this Article 72 restricts any writer…from asserting that the exploitation of their literary material to train, inform, or in any other way develop GAI software or systems, is within such rights and is not otherwise permitted under applicable law.” 

An AMPTP spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment, but the Alliance released a joint statement with the union on Sunday. “The WGA and AMPTP have reached a tentative agreement,” the statement read in full. 

Though writers are now back at work, the union has encouraged them to continue showing solidarity to SAG-AFTRA members on strike, who have not yet reached an agreement with studios.