The Screenwriters Guild of America has sent a strongly worded letter to the heads of major Hollywood studios, criticising them for their inaction as artificial intelligence appears to be taking copied scripts and using them to ‘plagiarise stolen works’.

The letters were sent to Amazon MGM Studios head Jennifer Salke; Disney CEO Bob Iger; NBCUniversal Studios & Entertainment president Donna Langley; Netflix co-CEO and president Ted Sarandos; Paramount Global co-CEOs George Cheeks, Chris McCarthy and Brian Robbins; Sony Pictures Entertainment CEO Ravi Ahuja; and Warner Bros. Discovery president and CEO David Zaslav. 

In the letter, WGAW and WGAE officials cite an 18 November article in The Atlantic, which notes that ‘tech companies have plundered studios’ intellectual property to train their artificial intelligence systems’.

WGA officials criticise the studios for doing ‘nothing to stop this theft. They have allowed tech companies to plunder entire libraries without permission or compensation. The studios‘ inaction has harmed WGA members’.

In addition, the letter notes that the WGA’s collective bargaining agreement ‘expressly requires studios to defend their copyrights on behalf of writers’ and demands that studios ‘take immediate legal action against any company that has used our members’ works to train artificial intelligence systems’. 

Despite the claim, experts point out that the WGA contract does not include any protection against artificial intelligence training, and hence the need to make these concerns public.

The full letter

The Atlantic’s 18 November article ‘There’s no longer any doubt that Hollywood writing is driving artificial intelligence’ confirms what was already clear to many: tech companies have plundered the studios’ intellectual property (a vast reservoir of works created by generations of unionised workers) to train their artificial intelligence systems. Having accumulated billions of dollars in capital on this basis of massive theft, these tech companies now seek to resell to the studios high-priced services that plagiarise stolen works created by members of the Screen Actors Guild and Hollywood workers.

The studios, as copyright holders of works written by WGA members, have done nothing to stop this theft. They have allowed technology companies to plunder entire libraries without permission or compensation. The studios’ inaction has hurt WGA members.

The Guild’s collective bargaining agreement (MBA) expressly requires studios to defend their authors’ rights on behalf of writers. Article 50 of the MBA provides that studios have rights ‘in trust’ reserved to certain writers of original works. B retain all other rights in the material, including the right to use the works to train AI systems. As holders of those rights in trust, the studios have a fiduciary duty to protect against unauthorised use of the works for AI training purposes.

It is time for the studios to stop doing nothing. After decades of fighting piracy, this industry cannot stand idly by while tech companies steal entire libraries of content for their own financial gain. Studios should take immediate legal action against any company that has used our members’ works to train artificial intelligence systems.

Yours sincerely, 

WGAW Officers  

Meredith Stiehm, President

Michele Mulroney, Vice President

Betsy Thomas, Secretary-Treasurer 

WGAE Officers

Lisa Takeuchi Cullen, President 

Christopher Kyle, Secretary-Treasurer 

Erica Saleh, Vice President, Film, Television and Streaming