What Hollywood thinks about existential AI warnings
As tech insiders warn that advanced AI could pose existential risks, Hollywood labor groups are urging the public to focus on tangible harms already occurring from AI in entertainment. The Verge contacted major studios and AI-focused film startups for comment about recent high-profile warnings; none replied, while SAG-AFTRA and the Writers Guild of America East (WGAE) provided responses.
Why It Matters
The dispute highlights a split between abstract, long-term alarms from AI researchers and immediate labor and legal concerns in creative industries where generative tools are already being deployed. Hollywood unions say their bargaining and rulemaking around AI use can protect workers now even as broader debates over AI safety continue.
Key Facts
- Outreach to studios: The Verge contacted Disney, Netflix, Amazon, Lionsgate and other studios and film AI startups; none responded to requests for comment.
- Unions that responded: Screen Actors Guild – American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA) and Writers Guild of America East (WGAE).
- 2023 writers' strike: WGA members spent 148 days on strike in 2023 before studios agreed to AI safeguards for film and television writers.
- SAG-AFTRA protections: SAG-AFTRA negotiated enforceable guardrails requiring studios to obtain permission and compensate actors for AI-generated replicas.
- Notable departures and warnings: Former Anthropic researcher Jacob Coxon quit and Anthropic alignment lead Evan Hubinger warned AI could be an extinction-level threat; these events helped spur public attention.
As prominent technologists and some AI company leaders have raised alarms about the potential for advanced AI to create catastrophic risk, entertainment labor groups are centering the conversation on harms already evident within the creative industries. The Verge sought comment from major studios including Disney, Netflix, Amazon, and Lionsgate, plus startups aiming to commercialize generative AI for film; none replied. By contrast, representatives from SAG-AFTRA and the Writers Guild of America East responded and emphasized the practical steps unions have pursued.
SAG-AFTRA’s chief negotiator, Duncan Crabtree-Ireland, said the union recognized early on that AI could threaten members’ livelihoods, particularly through digital replication of actors. He credited the union’s bargaining for securing enforceable rules requiring employers to secure permission and compensation when using AI-generated actor likenesses, arguing those protections reduced the economic incentive to immediately replace performers with digital facsimiles.
WGAE executive director Sam Wheeler framed the issue as part of broader worker and societal risks from unregulated AI, saying the guild has long warned about threats to jobs, democracy, and information environments. Wheeler noted that collective bargaining produced meaningful contract protections — referencing the 148-day writers’ strike in 2023 that led to safeguards for film and TV writers — but he also said that labor agreements are not a substitute for government regulation.
Both union representatives expressed skepticism about apocalyptic framing from some in the tech industry. Crabtree-Ireland said while broader societal implications deserve concern, some extinction-focused rhetoric may be overblown; he also said warnings from tech leaders who helped build the industry raise questions about whom to trust. Wheeler was more pointed in condemning what he called the recklessness and dishonesty of tech oligarchs pushing AI, even as he and the unions continue to press for protections in contracts and state-level regulation.
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Original source: The Verge