As writers go on strike, concerns are mounting about the increasing role of artificial intelligence (AI) in scriptwriting.
While writers see AI as a tool to assist with research and inspire ideas, studios view it as a means to reduce labor costs. With the entertainment landscape radically changed since the 2007 writers’ strike, the question arises whether AI will be used to replace writers entirely.
As the Writers Guild of America (WGA) began negotiating committee talks, AI became a key deal point, with the fear that producers could use AI to replace writers. The WGA proposal to block literary material from being written or rewritten by technology was rejected by the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP).
The union’s concern is that if AI is allowed to generate scripts, it will enable the producers to open up writing as an entirely freelance profession, leading to further job insecurity and lower wages for writers.
While experts believe AI cannot replace writers, it could be used to write formulaic scripts that require less creativity, and the longer the strike lasts, the more resources will be devoted to developing AI technology for scriptwriting.
