On July 14, 2023, the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Radio Artists (“SAG-AFTRA”) went on strike as they were unable to reach an agreement with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (“AMPTP”), joining the Writers Guild of America (“WGA”), which had been on strike since May 2, 2023. One of the issues at the core of both strikes is the use of artificial intelligence (“AI”) in the film and television industry. Similarly, to the writers’ fear of being replaced with AI, actors want to have contract language that protects them. Fran Drescher, the president of SAG-AFTRA stated that “artificial intelligence poses an existential threat to creative professions, and all actors and performers deserve contract language that protects them from having their identity and talent exploited without consent and pay.” The AMPTP wants to be able to use AI with the informed consent of the actors.

On September 24, 2023, the WGA announced that it had reached a tentative deal with AMPTP and the strike officially ended on September 27. The agreement was overwhelmingly ratified by the membership. According to a WGA statement, the union received increased pay, health and pension contributions as well as new foreign streaming residuals and viewership-based streaming bonuses.

The union appears to have exacted major concessions as to the use of AI. While the exact language of the new three-year collective bargaining agreement, known as the Minimum Basic Agreement “(MBA”), has not been released, a statement issued by the WGA provides the following:

• 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 separated rights.
• A writer can choose to use AI when performing writing services, if the company consents and provided that the writer follows applicable company policies, but the company can’t require the writer to use AI software (e.g., ChatGPT) when performing writing services.
• The Company must disclose to the writer if any materials given to the writer have been generated by AI or incorporate AI-generated material.
• The WGA reserves the right to assert that exploitation of writers’ material to train AI is prohibited by MBA or other law.

SAG-AFTRA remains on strike, although it is expected that the WGA agreement will provide a framework for further talks. The agreements as to the use of AI in the WGA contract will undoubtedly set a precedent for its use in other creative fields and perhaps more broadly as well.