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- [Leann] This is "Future Tech"

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where each week we discuss the
good, the bad, and the ugly

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of where tech is headed
in 2023 and beyond.

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(air whooshing)

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Hollywood's screenwriters are on strike

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and the impact is already being felt.

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Blake Montgomery joins us now.

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He's a deputy editor over at Gizmodo.

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And Blake, a lot of the typical things

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that people might strike over
are on the docket this time.

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Things like higher pay,
working conditions,

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but this is the first strike of its kind

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for these Hollywood writers
in about 15 years, I guess.

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And there's been some developments, right?

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So like AI, for instance,

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that's a sticking point,
which is interesting.

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- Yeah, you could call these

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the new digital working conditions.

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Writers want protection

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from the threat of AI taking
over their jobs, basically.

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We've seen ChatGPT barred,

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like these are common
household names by now,

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and those generate swaths
of text in seconds.

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And writers think that their executives,

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their producers will try to
replace them with a robot.

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They want protections for
what's called literary material

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in screenwriter union speak,

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which is any sort of text
generated for creative purposes

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like a script or a rewrite of a script.

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They don't want AI to be
used for any of those things.

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Surprisingly, the WGA,

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the union that represents
all the screenwriters,

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has come out in favor of
the potential use of AI

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in the generation of a script,

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basically using it as a productivity tool.

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But what the union has come out against

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is AI getting any sort
of credit in a script.

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- Which is fair.

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I mean, we've seen CEOs say that,

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"Hey, we might pause hiring now,"

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IBM, for instance, on certain jobs

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that might be able to be
filled by, you know, AI.

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And also, you know,
various news departments,

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they've been switching over to AI

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for some of their articles.

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And so I can see if
writing is your livelihood,

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definitely don't wanna see

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a robot necessarily take that away.

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- Yeah, and what we've seen is

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that the union demanded
protections in perpetuity

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from AI replacing any sort
of contract covered work,

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which is also union speak
for just what studios

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are obligated to use WGA
employed screenwriters for,

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and the body representing
the studios countered with

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we want to be able to reevaluate

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to use technology when we see fit,

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which the union sees

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as a direct threat to screenwriters' work.

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- So not only, you know,

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is the strike impacting
obviously the writers

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who wanna continue to do
work that they like to do,

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but I mean, some of the shows

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that other people like to watch,

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that's on pause now, right?

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- Yeah, a lot of our favorite
shows are gonna be delayed.

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If they had release dates in fall,

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they probably don't anymore.

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And ongoing shows like Jimmy Kimmel,

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"Saturday Night Live," Jimmy Fallon,

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that are writing up to the minute jokes

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of what happened earlier in the day,

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what's happening in the news,

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those are on pause now over
these contract negotiations.

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- You know, they gotta get a fair deal.

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So yeah, I'll do whatever
I can to support them,

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and hopefully there is no strike,

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and they can figure out a deal.

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- [Interviewer] I hope not either.

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- Yeah, I need my writers,
I need them real bad.

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- It'd be interesting to see

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if the people that aren't in the unions,

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the writers that aren't in the unions

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could just kind of take over the shows

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and write and be like, oh yeah,

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we definitely need those writers.

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So I think what else is making

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this interesting is when
you think about 2008

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when the last strike
of this kind happened,

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I mean, we didn't have like
a big emergence of streaming.

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- Yeah, the economics of
streaming have depressed wages

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for writers mainly because of syndication.

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So if you're watching ABC
or network television,

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you'll see reruns of old
shows run against new ads,

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which means the network is making money,

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which means they're paying money

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to the original creators of
that show on an ongoing basis.

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With streaming, it's
not run against new ads.

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The streaming company's

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not making more money off of re-airing it

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if you're watching your favorite
show for the ninth time.

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I've watched "30 Rock" a
bunch of times on Netflix,

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and writers say they're not
getting that residual money.

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Or if they are, I heard one
writer talk in an interview

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about getting a check
for 7 cents from Netflix,

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which is tough.

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And they say they can't make a living

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off of these depressed wages,

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and they get basically one
time fees to write shows.

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And if a show's a hit for a streamer,

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they kind of have no idea,

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and that there's not a ballooning of wages

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for that reason in the
way that there used to be

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for network television, even for cable.

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- Of course, a lot of
moving parts to this.

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Something that we'll continue to watch.

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To check out more, visit gizmodo.com.

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(gentle music)