Source: Jackson Lewis P.C.

Jackson Lewis P.C. provides a legal perspective on the profound impact of generative Artificial Intelligence on collective bargaining within the entertainment industry. The article details how AI has rapidly become a central and contentious issue in negotiations between unions, such as the Screen Actors Guild (SAG-AFTRA) and the Writers Guild of America (WGA), and the major studios and production companies. The core of the conflict lies in the technology's potential to displace human creativity and labor, from generating scripts and story ideas to creating digital replicas of actors.

The analysis explores the key demands being put forth by unions to regulate the use of AI. These include establishing clear consent and compensation requirements for the use of an actor's likeness to create digital performances, and implementing rules that prevent AI from being used to write or rewrite literary material, thereby protecting the role and crediting of human writers. The agreements reached in recent negotiations are seen as groundbreaking, setting important precedents for how labor contracts will address AI-related job security, intellectual property, and creative rights. The article concludes that AI will remain a permanent and evolving fixture in future collective bargaining, requiring ongoing dialogue and adaptation from all parties in the entertainment sector.