After a historic 148-day strike, the Writers Guild of America(WGA)reached a deal with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers(AMPTP) on September 24, 2023, resulting in two main wins for writers: their wages and new protections from Artificial intelligence(AI). 

Upon ratification, the deal structure allows almost all minimum wages for writers to be increased by five percent immediately, and writers will get the bulk of their wage increases at the beginning of a 3-year contract.  One year later, wages will jump another four percent, and during the third and final year of the contract, the base pay will go up between three and five percent.  This is the largest wage increase in over 35 years, and union executives referred to it as “exceptional,” according to Associated Press News.

These impressive increases did not come without sacrifice.  According to the entertainment magazine Vulture, the adverse economic impact of the strike was more than five billion dollars. However, many writers felt that the sacrifice was worth it, not just because of the historic wage bumps but also because of the invaluable protections from the use and abuse of AI.

According to the AP, AI usage cannot entirely replace a writer.  Although artificial intelligence can be used as a tool, its application must be conducted by a hired writer.  In short, while a show’s production can utilize AI, your favorite sitcom will not have ChatGPT listed as its only writer.  

This new AI regulation is a huge win for the WGA as there were talks of having the entire production of a show, from writers to actors to editors, happen through an artificial intelligence program. According to the general interest news site Vox, by banning AI from replacing human writers, viewers can be confident that the scripts for their favorite movie or TV show were, at least partly, written by a human being.  

While there is still more work to be done to improve the economic reliability of being an entertainment writer, this deal was a massive step in the right direction, as it ejected life back into a declining career path.