LydiaMay 2, 2023
Ethan Marcotte
Tech workers: if you, like me, have ever wondered about how automation will impact your work, you should probably pay close attention to how “artificial intelligence” figures into the WGA strike. https://www.wgacontract2023.org/strike-hub
Strike Hub

Writers are facing the most comprehensive assault on compensation and working conditions that they have seen in a generation. Find out why writers are calling the WGA an existential fight for the future of the profession and get links to all things strike-related here.

May 2, 2023 at 8:14pmWeb
Show threadEthan MarcotteMay 3, 2023

“It isn’t ‘AI’ that has worked to eliminate writers’ rooms and it isn’t ‘streaming’ that’s shifted the revenue shared with writers and other artists to pennies on the dollar. It’s companies that have done that, often exploiting the loopholes in their labor and royalty contracts that allow them to do so.”

new @tim just dropped, and it is GOOD https://amazonchronicles.ghost.io/alexa-will-not-replace-us/

“Alexa Will Not Replace Us”

The Writers Guild of America is on strike, bringing movie and television production to a halt. This affects media companies across the board, but one of them is Amazon, which is not exactly like other media companies. It's primarily a retailer as well as a technology and infrastructure company. However,

Amazon Chronicles
Show threadErin KissaneMay 3, 2023
@beep @tim I got to "A good mantra is that fears about technology are almost always fears about capitalism. This is no exception." and HOLLERED
Show threadEthan MarcotteMay 3, 2023
@kissane @tim ERIN I YELLED
Show threadTim CarmodyMay 3, 2023
@beep @kissane Fred from Scooby-Doo pulls off the ghost mask from AI to reveal that the villain was capitalism all along
Show threadEthan MarcotteMay 3, 2023
@tim @kissane i got u friend https://bukk.it/scooby-capitalism.jpg
Show threadMark LlobreraMay 3, 2023
@beep @tim Whew, Tim, I need a lie down
Show threadexcited for the mastodon riseMay 3, 2023

@beep @tim

This is a good nutshell of why I wish software engineers would pull their heads out and unionize now, 'cause this fight it coming to us and we will be beaten before anyone wakes up.

Also, it's about damn time we get the strike laws changed to unions can support each other.

Show threadEthan MarcotteMay 4, 2023
@qkslvrwolf Agreed, on both counts.
Show threadEthan MarcotteJun 28, 2023
“We do not believe that SAG-AFTRA members can afford to make halfway gains in anticipation that more will be coming in three years, and we think it is absolutely vital that this negotiation protects not just our likenesses, but makes sure we are well compensated when any of our work is used to train AI.” — https://www.rollingstone.com/tv-movies/tv-movie-news/jennifer-lawrence-meryl-streep-actors-threaten-strike-sag-aftra-letter-exclusive-1234779586/
Jennifer Lawrence, A-List Actors Threaten to Strike in Letter to SAG

In a letter signed by 300+ actors, including Meryl Streep, members of the Screen Actors Guild say they’re ready to strike for the best deal possible

Rolling Stone
Show threadLiminal witch 🧙‍♀️ SarahMay 2, 2023
@beep do you know what MBA in this context means?
Show threadEthan MarcotteMay 2, 2023

@xgebi Yes! Thank you so much for asking: the MBA is the WGA’s “Minimum Basic Agreement,” the collective bargaining agreement they’re currently negotiating over.

More info, if it’s of interest:

https://www.wgacontract2023.org/faq

https://www.wga.org/contracts/contracts/mba

Show threadGabriel NMay 2, 2023
@beep 🤯
Show threadBenderIsGreat34May 2, 2023
@beep I’m getting my barista license just incase. License to caffeinate. On her Majesty’s Secret Mocha.
Show threadAlonealastalovedalongtheMay 2, 2023

@beep

Wait so the counter to worker concerns about AI replacing them is... an annual meeting where management lectures at workers about why they are being replaced and devalued by technology?

  

Show threadpotatoofdestinyMay 3, 2023
@Alonealastalovedalongthe @beep that's nonsense. The lectures are about why it's good that that's happening
Show threadTJ RadcliffeMay 2, 2023
@beep They should instead demand that a man with a red flag be required to run in front of every project that uses "AI". http://www.oceansplasticleanup.com/Politics_Plastics_Oceans_Cleanup/Red_Flag_Act_Locomotive_1865_Cars_Speed_Limits_Man_Running_Carrying_A.htm
Show threadDilman DilaMay 3, 2023
@tjradcliffe @beep Not the same thing. Both locomotives and horse-drawn carriages relied on human labour.
Show threadTJ RadcliffeMay 3, 2023
@dilmandila @beep So do LLMs, both in their manufacture and use. I can see a future where writers become "imagineers" who come up with the ideas and scenarios and shape directions, but where LLMs "write" the first draft of scenes. Attempting to stop new tech rarely works. Engaging with it intelligently and aggressively has a better chance. Prohibition rarely a good policy.
Show threadGil Friend, sustainability OGMay 2, 2023

@beep

It begins.

A silver lining in the dark cloud: well-prompted AIs can probably save you $1000s in legal bills. ;-)

Show threadFoolishOwlMay 3, 2023
@beep This is moving faster than I expected.
Show threadsynlogicMay 3, 2023
@beep yep. someone out there is going to train an LLM specifically on stories or screenplays. what it churns out wont be great and may sometimes be outright insane. but theres a chance it might do better than the lowest quality tier of paid writers. which are often *also* the early career ones, simply trying to make ends meet
Show threadSherri W (SyntaxSeed)May 3, 2023
@synlogic @beep Then they'll just hire cheaper editors to polish the generated screenplays. 😡
Show threadFarce MajeureMay 3, 2023
@synlogic @beep but whether it's "better" or not, it's still pilfering their work.
Show threadsynlogicMay 3, 2023
@vathpela @beep agreed. capitalists stealing from skilled labor. trying to make it even harder for working class people to make end's meet. and doing it when humanity already has climate catastrophe looming, and an alliance of autocrats and fascists chipping away at democracy. horrible values and timing
Show threadarthur.pizzaMay 3, 2023
@beep Siri, have I been replaced?
Show threadMax Lee May 3, 2023
@beep
The solution is taxing the rich and a Universal Basic Income, not hindering innovation.
Show thread Why Not Zoidberg? 🦑May 3, 2023
@the_moep @beep AI to replace humans is not innovation.
Show threadMax Lee May 4, 2023
@WhyNotZoidberg
"The printing press to replace scribes is not innovation."
"Assembly lines to replace human workers is not innovation."
"Cars to replace horses is not inovation."
See how ridicilous that statement is yet? Just because it will get rid of a good chunk of jobs it doesn't make it any less innovation. We need to focus on finding solutions to a world with not enough traditional jobs for everyone, not prevent progress. Working less and an UBI could be good solutions!
Show thread Why Not Zoidberg? 🦑May 4, 2023

@the_moep those are tools. This is aiming at replacing the soul.

To even imagine it's the same thing is disturbing.

Show threadRimi B. ChatterjeeMay 3, 2023
@beep Artificial intelligence is just corpospeaks for “we’ll get underpaid third world workers to do this and then pretend a machine pooped it out.” Like how Nike shoes assemble themselves by magic.
Show thread Why Not Zoidberg? 🦑May 3, 2023

@beep AI should replace dangerous labor, not creative tasks.

Quite frankly without humans making art, why do we exist? If we let AIs remove our creative spark we have no purpose.

Show threadRyeMay 3, 2023
@beep well if that isn't the most patronizing counter-proposal I've ever heard
Show threadthedoh 🇨🇦May 3, 2023
@beep See also: https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2023/05/ibm-pauses-hiring-around-7800-roles-that-could-be-replaced-by-ai/
IBM plans to replace 7,800 jobs with AI over time, pauses hiring certain positions

IBM CEO Arvind Krishna says he could see 30% of back-office functions replaced by AI over 5 years.

Ars Technica
Show threadMegan WestonMay 6, 2023

@beep @goodthinking

Ew. WGA should take them to the cleaners.