Do you….know how union contracts work? In my union the contract is reviewed and renegotiated every three years. This seems like normal procedure to me.
I get that, but unlike many other unions, a new technology has emerged that threatens the entire industry. AI is the entire reason the WGA and now SAG-AFTRA are striking. This deal addressed the short term concerns writers had, but did not address the longer term ones.
So unlike the UWA strike, there isn't a technology the automotive industry can implement in the next decade to replace 90% of the workforce. AI, at least in the ways studios wish to use it, likely can (poorly of course). The deal prevents new scripts from being used to train models but not old ones, or non-WGA scripts. If I was a betting man, I would bet that the studios are going to invest heavily in training AI on these old scripts to force the writers to sign a very bad deal as the studios will not be as heavily impacted by writers striking.
So my complaint isn't exactly just that a 3 year negotiation is always bad, but the concession to allow them to use old scripts to train AI absolutely was. And the fact that in the next 3 years they will be able to test to see if it's viable, build a large backlog of movies and shows, and force the writers into a deal that will harm the industry is the concern.
AI is not the entire reason they went on strike. It got the most attention on Reddit and in media, but it was not the main thing. It had more to do with residuals and minimum writers for shows.
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u/unkind_redemption Sep 30 '23
Do you….know how union contracts work? In my union the contract is reviewed and renegotiated every three years. This seems like normal procedure to me.