The Australian Writers’ Guild has received reports of production companies using generative artificial intelligence (AI) technology to take notes in writers’ rooms, replacing note-takers.
Note-taking allows a new writer to contribute to a show and learn from experienced writers. It is a pathway to writing the crucial first script. Automated note-taking risks eliminating one of the few possible entry-points into the industry that emerging writers still have.
The AWG opposes the use of AI in the creative process, especially where it is used to replace a creative worker. Big tech companies have already stolen the intellectual property of writers and artists – now the tools they have developed threaten to replace us.
In addition to the harm to our industry, there are also a number of risks involved in using AI in writers’ rooms including risks to writers’ privacy and the production company’s secondary liability for copyright infringement. It is for these reasons that the screen funding bodies have begun to implement a requirement that AI is not to be used in creative processes as a condition of funding.
You can find the AWG’s most recent submission on AI here.
