Hollywood screenwriters don’t want robots taking their jobs, either. Hollywood screenwriters have long imagined dystopias where machines ruled over humans of the future. They are now starting to worry the machines are coming for them much sooner. The thousands of unionized scribes who went on strike this week are demanding better pay and taking aim at other issues, including the rise of generative artificial intelligence like ChatGPT, the AI-powered “chatbot” that has captivated and alarmed people in creative professions in recent months. The Writers Guild of America said it wants Hollywood’s top studios and networks to regulate the use of AI on creative projects. The union’s specific demand, according to a document released Monday, states: “AI can’t write or rewrite literary material; can’t be used as source material; and MBA-covered [contract-covered] material can’t be used to train AI.”
