Marvel and DC superheroes have reunited for a bigger cause as writers put down their pens amid the Writer’s Guild of America (WGA) strike, which started on May 2. After negotiations for fair play and streaming-era regulations broke down, the writers are also seeking the ban of AI from writing and re-writing any source material.
The Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) has so far rejected the WGA’s demand and merely offered to conduct annual meetings to discuss advancements in technology. As the situation continues to worsen, stars like Mark Ruffalo, Collin Farrell, Joel McHale, and America Ferrera have come forward to contribute their strong voices to this cause.
Marvel’s Mark Ruffalo And DC’s Collin Farrell In Support Of The WGA
Marvel and DC’s superheroes like Bruce Banner/Hulk (Mark Ruffalo), The Penguin (Colin Farrell), and Starman (Joel McHale), have come forward and voiced their strong support for the Writer Guild of America’s demand as AI continues to threaten their work.
Joel McHale, for instance, was present at the strike ground and expressed that he supports everything the writers are asking for as AMPTP rejected the WGA‘s proposal and merely offered to hold “annual meetings to discuss advancements in technology.”
Marvel’s Hulk, Mark Ruffalo, on the other hand, came straightaway from his art class and shared a strong message in support of the WGA, asking the Director’s Guild and the soon-to-join-in Screen Actor’s Guild to stand in solidarity. Ruffalo also informed that they need to get the votes before June 5, 2023, to authorize the strike.
The Batman star Collin Farrell too left a strong message: “It’s a testament to the arrogance of those at the top that these people are now out of work because they are doing the right thing.” Others like America Ferrera, former president Barack Obama, and Lil Wayne too contributed to the cause.
The WGA’S Demand Against AI Gets Suppressed
The WGA has continued to strike, requesting the AMPTP to ban the use of AI for “writing and rewriting any source material,” as well as its “use as a source material of its own,” and that “no AI material be trained on WGA writers’ work.”
Sadly, the AMPTP has rejected the WGA’s proposal and merely declared to hold “annual meetings to discuss advancements in technology.” Interestingly, if negotiations completely go south, the Screen Actor’s Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA) has voted unanimously to join the cause.
The unions fear that the studios could replace writers in a writers’ room or that human actors on a movie set are as real as they come. One example is a recent New York Times article, asking, “Will a Chatbot Write the Next Succession?” as a recent Netflix contract reserved the rights to “simulations of actors’ voices throughout the universe and in perpetuity.”
The last WGA strike took place 15 years ago. This halt immediately affected several production houses, with many scripted projects inevitably going into the darkness, resulting in a Hollywood shutdown not seen since Covid-19.
Source: Vulture
