From The Verge, September 27:
Historic raises and guarantees on AI use will have major ramifications in Hollywood, but the new transparency in streaming data means Netflix and Disney Plus will have to change how they work.
As of midnight, the Writers Guild of America will no longer be picketing. Instead, members of the union will be poring over new details on the contract negotiated with the AMPTP and deciding whether they will vote to ratify this new contract.
(Disclosure: The Verge's editorial staff is also unionized with the Writers Guild of America, East.)
The WGA dropped a summary of the contract tonight and it's historic. The flashiest wins for the WGA are around pay increases and artificial intelligence. The pay increases are significant across the board, with notable increases for "high budget subscription video on demand" (think Netflix) and streaming films.
“AI is the flashy thing... The data is the game changer.”
The WGA says writers of streaming features should see a minimum compensation increase of 18 percent, provided that film was budgeted at least $30 million, plus a 26 percent increase in residual base.
On the AI side of things, the WGA got essentially what it's been demanding from the start. According to the summary of the contract, AI will not be able to write or rewrite literary material, and AI-generated material will not be able to be used as a source material. So an exec won't be able to ask ChatGPT to come up with a story and ask writers to turn it into a script that the exec owns the rights to.
The WGA also "reserves the right to assert that exploitation of writers' material to train AI is prohibited by MBA or other law." This means that if the laws change or AI training reaches a point of contention for guild members, the WGA will be able to call that exploitation. This is likely related to proposed laws proposed in California regulating the use of materials for training AI.
But "AI is the flashy thing. The data is the game changer," Katharine Trendacosta, director of policy and advocacy at the Electronic Frontier Foundation and a reporter covering the strike for Vice and Defector, told me....
....MUCH MORE
