Too Smart For Our Own Good
First published in the print column, Strictly Haresay
On May 2 of this year, the Writers Guild of America (WGA)—representing 11,500 screenwriters—went on strike over an ongoing labor dispute with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers.
Protesting the widening wage gap in which industry executives at the top are enjoying record salaries while rising living costs have caused financial strain for those lower on the food chain, and the threats posed by the increasing use of artificial intelligence (AI), the writers on strike have now been joined by numerous actors, and other performing artists.
Out here where the locally produced entertainment is comparatively simple, and usually involves a pretty view from a tailgate and a brown long neck bottle, it’s easy to feel far removed from such issues. And anyone wrestling out a rural existence dictated by the whims of Mother Nature and the challenges created by the boardroom back-scratchers in Washington may not feel too inclined toward sympathy for Hollywood high rollers. But everyone should be watching this strike very closely. How this plays out in Hollywood will set a precedent for how AI will be used, and how much people and jobs will be protected in the future.
AI is already affecting many creative professions—there have been voice-over artists replaced by AI-generated work, and the new breed of tech is increasingly being used in films. But it’s not just creatives who are at risk of being replaced by computer-generated “intelligence.” According to leaders in the tech industry, there is not a single sector of America’s work force that won’t ultimately be touched by this technology. And as we gallop headlong into this heretofore unexplored territory, no one can really predict, with any degree of accuracy, the far reaching repercussions such a trajectory will create. Even AI techs admit to this very scary truth.
So as TV programming experiences delays due to the strike, and airing dates get pushed, and we possibly feel a mild annoyance at the inconvenience of having to wait for the next episode or season of that favorite show, we would all do well to watch with a closer eye, listen with a more sympathetic ear, and consider with a more discerning mind, what’s really going on here.
As onward we charge, human interests be damned (as per usual), those that are patting themselves on the back for their own brilliance in created the technology we know as artificial intelligence, apparently don’t have common sense enough to recognize the radical risks riding the coattails of said genius.
Ironic, ain’t it?
