The Writers Guild of America (WGA), one of the largest unions on strike in the film industry, has called off its strike after nearly five months. It finally settled with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP), representing major studios in the film industry.
What the agreement entails
Negotiations by the union resulted in the implementation of solid limitations to artificial intelligence (AI) blank canvas to “infringe” on creators’ intellectual property.
The WGA established regulations for using AI on Minimum Basic Agreement-covered (MBA) projects. The agreement reads as follows:
“AI can’t write or rewrite literary material, and AI-generated material will not be considered source material under the MBA, meaning that AI-generated material can’t be used to undermine a writer’s credit or separate rights.”
It also specifies that a writer can choose to use AI when scripting with the company’s agreement. The writer must also follow company policies, but using AI software must never be compulsory.
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Regarding a company using AI, it has to inform a writer beforehand if any material given to them has been AI-generated.
What does it mean for businesses and content creators
According to a recent survey conducted by Forbes, almost all 600 businesses using AI believe ChatGPT will help their company. One in three companies plan to use ChatGPT to write content, while 44% say they will use ChatGPT to write content in other languages.
The dependency on AI to expand brands and businesses has become increasingly popular, especially over the last five years.
According to the Forbes survey, businesses also use AI for long-form writing of content on their websites and personalized advertisements.
The rapid growth of AI in the workplace
The generative AI landscape is changing fast, and many, including creatives, are seeking safe guidelines to protect jobs. While businesses seek to apply software to cut jobs and increase productivity, many workers believe AI threatens their jobs.
OpenAI and Microsoft are squaring off in a class-action lawsuit for alleged copyright infringement while developing ChatGPT and other generative AI systems.
At the same time, the US Copyright Office is taking submissions from the public to figure out where the safe boundaries for the use of AI are.
About the author
Mia is a multi-award-winning journalist. She has more than 14 years of experience in mainstream media. She's covered many historic moments that happened in Africa and internationally. She has a strong focus on human interest stories, to bring her readers and viewers closer to the topics at hand.
