Saturday 15 July 2023: Three Strikes
Lets talk about equity. Yes, we’re back on this –
as industries continue to be exploiuted by the rise of generative AI
modelling, more and more people probably ought to be asking the question
– if studios won’t pay for the right to use and fairly reward talent of
seemingly any kind, why are there still people willing to work in these
industries?
And the answer, at least for now, would seem to be
that there is none. Withdraw labour. Go do something else. Even
Starbucks has a baseline respect for paying workers for the value they
provide.
To put more context here, the WGA strike didn’t
really elaborate on what the AAMPTP (studios) would do in the face of
the rise of AI with regards to actual writing. The writers’ new contract
would be then to re-write AI-generated scripts for a fraction of the
cost. So, wilfully destroying the profession. So then how to resolve the
underlying issue where the contracts you have explicitly either
underplay or ignore the tools you actually want to use to do a certain
job?
As illustrated here previously, because of the wide
training pool of data (the whole internet) and the wide variety of
writing and grammatical styles (where we for a moment exclude the
examples that are completely and straightforwardly wrong), AI tools pose
no threat to writers on quality. I have illustrated this in some form
here previously, but other proofs from better writers than I are also
available. As far as writing is concerned, then, the real threat is that
studio bosses will think there is a quality present that there is
not. Or that they simply do not care. Then use the tools anyway.
Even this is only one aspect of only one strike.
The writers were also concerned about the ability to train new writers
up from junior levels (current practices seem to preclude this – you’re
either a newbie forever, or a senior already. Not a decent way to make a
living and the rates of compensation don’t support lifestyle either. So,
at least as far as having a writing ‘job’, the question of why to bother
in the first place is somewhat difficult to answer.
But for acting, at least, answering the questions
becomes more straightforward. Which is not to say actors are treated
better. The compensation schemes for the overwhelming majority of actors
is either the same or worse than the writers – and ‘making it’ in acting
hinges entirely on having a successful role. There is potentially zero
career advancement as an actor even if everything goes perfect6ly for
you. So, then the issue of AI usage is the only one that could be
meaningfully headed at the pass. And yet, the official word on AI use in
acting is even worse than the writers – where they had ‘no comment (but
fully intending to use)’, the acftors get ‘we scan your likeness and
voice print for 1 day’s work and use it forever’. So, redundancy. Unless
the royalties of having your likeness used in productions without your
involvement, knowledge or consent is good enough to make a living on.
Somehow I doubt it.
The Directors seem to have been the only ones able
to negotiate their way out of a strike – possibly because they stand to
gain the most from the potential of Ai use (you still need a human to
overall decide what is good or not as produced by an AI. So, as long as
they are credited, they are happy. And presumably they don’t have the
same hangups about royalties. Or, they do, and they have a larger amount
of respect in the industry, so actually got what they were asking for.
The studios themselves haven’t made themselves look
any better either – with leaked internal memos first threatening writers
with terminations for being on strike, and then promising not to resume
negotiations until October, ostensibly so that the writer’s can ‘go
broke’. If there was any remaining doubt as to the kind of people that
run the entertainment industry (which Weinstein should have removed),
then surely it’s gone now.
Because surely when your only available rebuttal to
workers saying they aren’t paid fairly ios to gleefully wish them
starvation, then these people don’t deserve to be in charge of anything.
Or they at least should have a few quarters of bad earnings. That seems
to be all they care about anyway.
WGA Strike page:
https://www.wgacontract2023.org/
SAG Strike page: https://www.sagaftrastrike.org/