Valeria Chancay

The artificial intelligence (AI) emerging today has dramatically changed how text, audio, and images can be created. AI can be an impactful creative tool, but it also threatens the livelihoods of Hollywood actors and writers.
People question the authenticity of AI produced shows, contributing to the growing concern towards a decreased quality of Hollywood films.
“I would not want to watch those [AI produced] shows. They won’t feel entertaining if they don’t feel real,” said junior Alexandra Belliveau.
Others agreed that the introduction of AI into the Hollywood business would be detrimental.
“I think that the industry is on thin ice,” said junior Nadeem Bakr, “I think that it [AI] takes the magic out of filmmaking.”
Others said they feel that AI generated shows will not be able to highlight human connections accurately.
“With a real person, it is much more personal. You can’t know what people are like because [with AI] it’s all auto generated,” said senior Alyssa Alex.
Bakr stated that he agrees with this sentiment.
“I think that it takes the magic out of filmmaking. I want to feel a connection with the author, and I can’t get that with a sack of nuts and bolts,” said Bakr.
According to VOX.com, the development of AI has also been done, at times, without the knowledge of writers. Their work assisted in training the AI despite the lack of consent.
“It seems disingenuous to use someone’s art and develop something that can wipe out their industry. Art is such a personal thing so I can see why they [the writers] would feel cheated,” said Director of School Counseling Kendra Cantrell.
VOX.com also said that the WGA (Writers Guild of America) spoke out against companies like Meta [Facebook] training AI by taking advantage of materials from their writers.
Despite this controversy, AI remains a useful and potent tool that could be employed by writers, actors, and producers alike.
English teacher Brian Lux, who teaches both Filmmaking and Contemporary Novel and Film classes, said he could see it as a useful tool.
“I could see how it would be good to use AI to recreate the voice of James Earl Jones for Darth Vader in the latest Star Wars productions,” said Lux.
Powerful tools, like AI, have the potential to be misused against the wishes of the writers who have been copied.
“AI can be a very dangerous tool as well. AI can be misused to make it look like someone has done something or said something, which could be harmful for their careers,” said freshman Liam Finn.
Sophomore Julia Daly agreed with this sentiment. Daly said that she would be worried about exploitation of power and the misconstruing of actor’s voices.
“I wouldn’t want my voice being copied,” said Daly.
These concerns highlight the importance of getting the consent of the writer or actor when using or copying their work or likeness.
“If the person doesn’t sign off on their rights then it would be immoral and illegal. It has to be done with the person or their estate’s consent,” said Lux.
People say they agree with regulations preventing companies from forcibly using AI exploitatively.
“They [movie and television producers] should definitely get consent from the writers to use AI,” said Alex.
The threat to their livelihood that AI represents made it one of the most important issues for the actors and writers.
“The biggest issues that they [actors and writers] have with AI is that they don’t want to have robots taking their jobs,” said Spanish teacher and Drama Club advisor Robyn Spain DeGennaro.
According to VOX.com, while the exact language of the contract has not been released, the simplified memorandum of agreement (MOA) released by the WGA included a provision forbidding the use of AI to reduce the number of or eliminate writers and their pay.
The threat of AI exploitation catalyzed a strike amongst writers and actors, freezing many productions of movies and shows. With the lapse in scripted television programs due to the writers’ and actors’ strike, reality TV programs have been used to fill time slots. The same thing happened with the previous strike.
“A show I watch, [Big Brother,] they [CBS] gave it an extra season to fill the empty slots,” said sophomore Seamus Quercio.
Spain DeGennaro says that the impacts to television programs should not be the focus of the controversy.
“I think that the people complaining about their TV programs are coming from a place of privilege – their jobs aren’t affected,” said Spain DeGennaro.
Spain DeGennaro said that, despite not being directly affected by the strike, she had friends in the industry currently out of work.
“They are at the point where they have to face either being a scab or being on the streets, and the studios know that,” said Spain DeGennaro.
The future of AI is currently undetermined and – although most are not directly impacted by the development of AI – it is a topic owed serious consideration.
“Do we want technology telling our stories to us?” says Cantrell.