(Reuters) – Hollywood studios are expected to retain the right to train artificial-intelligence models based on writers’ work under the terms of a tentative labor agreement between the two sides, the Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday, citing people familiar with the situation.
The writers would also walk away with an important win, a guarantee that they will receive credit and compensation for work they do on scripts, even if studios partially rely on AI tools, according to the report.
Entertainment executives didn’t want to relinquish the right to train their own AI tools based on TV and movie scripts, since their understanding is that AI tech platforms already are training their own models on such materials, the WSJ reported.
The Writers Guild of America (WGA) and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers did not immediately respond to Reuters’ requests for comment.
The WGA, which represents roughly 11,500 film and television writers, reached a preliminary three-year deal with major studios on Sunday. The agreement still must be approved by the union’s leadership and members.
The deal is expected to end one of two strikes that have halted most film and television production and cost the California economy billions.
The actors and performers’ union is still on strike. Their demands are similar to that of writers, including higher wages and protection against AI use.
Setting the stage for another possible work stoppage in Hollywood, video game voice actors and motion capture performers voted on Monday to authorize a strike if negotiations on a new labor contract fail.
(Reporting by Samrhitha Arunasalam in Bengaluru; Editing by Shounak Dasgupta)
