Writers Are On Strike
And AI is at least partially to blame for it (and a lot of things, apparently.)
Artificial intelligence (AI). The way of the future for some, for others, not so much. For me, the bane of my existence.
In case you haven’t heard, the Writer’s Guild of America (WGA) is on strike. This primarily affects writers in Hollywood, but, really, it affects us all. If you’re a writer, this should matter to you—at the very least because it’s important to know what’s going on. At the very most, it might just make your blood boil.
I’ve learned my fair share about the writer’s strike and some of the reasons for said strike are simply baffling. While in reality there are many reasons, actually, for the strike, most of them have a common thread:
Writers are being undervalued.
It’s nothing new, but it’s something that is both frustrating, sad, and maddening in equal parts. Like many creative fields, the writing industry is often seen as unnecessary. It was a common theme when the COVID-19 pandemic first hit—writers, along with large swathes of the entertainment industry, could no longer work. Their work wasn’t deemed essential.
Don’t get me wrong, I know the difference between an ER nurse and a writer. One is important and saves lives, and the other is less important, but still saves lives. You might think that’s an exaggeration, but I’d argue that it’s not—the pandemic ultimately proved that creatives are essential. Not in the same way that ER nurses, grocers, farmers, and first responders are, but in a way that’s less pronounced.
While everyone was stuck at home, they turned to entertainment on the screen and on the page to pass the time.
When everyone felt down during the height of lockdown, they turned on a comedy special or read a cheesy romance novel to cheer them up.
Writers might not be the people who save lives in an emergency, but writing is what keeps people going in the midst of tragedy, grief, and bitter unhappiness. Writing can save people, even if that saving is in less of a superhero way and more of a quiet, contemplatively beautiful way.
But I digress.
The reason writers are on strike right now is because they are being undervalued in a multitude of ways that have only been exacerbated by technology in recent years. Streaming services, the globalized writing market, and yes, AI, are some of the main things at the root of this strike.
Writers aren’t being paid as much as they were merely 10 years ago in the midst of historic inflation. Hollywood studios have managed to create a gig economy inside a unionized workforce, and this has left writers in a bad place in an industry that quite literally can’t survive without them.
Among the list of complaints that led to this strike, however, is a sneaky little tidbit of technology that has been all the rage lately: AI.
Oddly enough, the Writer’s Guild strike came just a week after I had some less-than-pleasant experiences with AI myself and published an article about the topic, and to say that this whole AI thing is frustrating would be an understatement.
While I was writing about how bad AI detectors might be for writers (read the article to find out what I mean—I think I could write a whole book on the topic at this point), the Writer’s Guild was trying to come to agreeable terms on the use of AI in Hollywood (and beyond.)
According to documents released from WGA itself, all they were asking for was that major studios would agree to two things: 1) Don’t make writers edit and revise AI-generated content; and 2) Don’t use real living, breathing human writer’s content to generate AI content.
I don’t know about you, but I don’t think those are unreasonable asks.
Clearly, there is more to this strike than just AI, but I think it’s worth noting that this seems to be the way of the future. One of our main battles as writers right now is AI, whether that be on a grand scale like with the WGA strike, or in our day-to-day writing lives like what I experienced with these AI detectors.
While there is still a lot to learn when it comes to AI and this strange new world we’re all living in, there is something to be said for what all the hubbub actually reflects:
Writers have been, and will continue to be, valuable—despite AI.
I have to remind myself of this when I start to feel discouraged. Right now, late-night talk shows are grinding to a halt because writers are on strike. Despite my frustration with AI detectors and how they can wreak havoc on writers, they’re faulty as all get out. In spite of technology, greedy corporations, and misunderstandings about the profession, writers are still thriving.
I have hope for my future as a writer, and yours, and I don’t think the light of that hope will ever dim.
Here are the places my words have ended up since I last wrote:
AI Detectors: The Most Terrifying Threat to Writers Everywhere published in The Startup
5 Things to Keep in Mind on The Journey to Finding Friends as an Adult published in Curious
Why “Minus the Steam?” published in Romance Lovers Anonymous
Game of Love Brings the Cheese in the Best Way Possible published in Romance Lovers Anonymous
The Key to Successful Journaling is Not Following Any Rules republished on my blog
Dolly Parton republished on my blog
I read a book set during Christmas in April. To be fair, I didn’t know it was set during Christmas when I finally picked it up off of my shelf to read. And to be honest, I wasn’t mad about it. I wasn’t mad about it at all.
I don’t remember when I stumbled across Claire Keegan’s work, but I do remember that I quite literally stumbled across it. You see, sometimes I like to go to a bookstore nearby with the express intent of buying x amount of books in x genre. Once upon a time (I think I was still in college), I went to Barnes & Noble with the express intent of buying three short story collections, and one of the three I landed on was Walk the Blue Fields by Claire Keegan. I loved that exquisite collection of short stories set in Ireland, and when I learned that she had since published a book and that it was shortlisted for the Booker Prize, no less, I knew I had to read Small Things Like These.
It’s a tiny little book—you could easily read it in one sitting—and it ultimately shows one man’s courage in an entirely unexpected way. It also exposes some interesting, and tragic, Irish history.
All that to say, I recommend it, and I also recommend buying random books from the bookstore (who wouldn’t?)