Tiffany LiWGA is bargaining to block use of their written work to train AI. (ht @harikunzru)
This is a smart move. Brief 🧵:
Generally, writers do not retain copyright for scripts written for or bought by production companies. Which means those companies have the right to do what they want with the written work. Including, potentially, using the works to train AI.
Companies can train AI on work written by writers in a way that allows them to generate written output that sounds similar to what a writer would’ve written. When this gets efficient and effective enough, expect companies to try to eliminate writing jobs altogether...
We've already seen tons of examples of of AI-generated writing, art, and music made to sound or look similar to known human creators.
(Honestly IMO the tech is not quite there yet. Often what you get is a pale imitation. But tech is always improving!)
WGA is now trying to negotiate a hard stop on use of their members' writing to train AI. This will mean that companies who buy a script or hire a writer can’t exploit writers’ works by training AI to put those same writers out of a job. This is a smart move!
Of course, this doesn’t address how much writing is publicly available through other means or writing that has already been used to train AI. And it doesn’t tell you how WGA members are meant to enforce their rights if they find a company has misused their works. (And how would they even find out in the first place?)
But still, a good start and definitely something to watch.
Kale @tiffanycli akin to Jet Li saying no to the Matrix to prevent them stealing his techniques with mocap