Writers Guild of America
Screenwriters’ Union
The screenwriters’ union whose 148-day 2023 strike won Hollywood’s first major contractual AI protections: AI cannot write or rewrite literary material, AI output is not source material, and no writer can be forced to use it.
Why this score
How the formula works →- +5.1antiCampaigns against AI
- +1.2anti2 anti-AI statements (measured)
- ±0nuancedSupports AI only with conditions
Weights, statement counts, the ×1.25 multiplier for having a stake in an AI-impacted field, and the formula’s smoothing are already baked in — the points add up to the score (direction-free evidence pulls toward the middle instead): Firmly Anti-AI · 6.3/10
In their words
Neither traditional AI nor generative AI is a writer, so no written material produced by traditional AI or GAI can be considered literary material.
The Company must disclose to the writer if any materials given to the writer have been generated by AI or incorporate AI-generated material.
Biography
The Writers Guild of America — jointly, the WGA East and WGA West — represents more than 11,000 film, television and new-media writers. In 2023 it became the first union anywhere to strike over generative AI and win, turning a technology-policy abstraction into picket-line stakes and a signed contract.
The 2023 strike
When negotiations with the studios opened in March 2023, months after ChatGPT’s debut, the WGA proposed regulating AI in the writers’ room; the studios initially countered with an offer of annual meetings to discuss the technology. The guild walked out on May 2, 2023, and stayed out for 148 days — Hollywood’s second-longest writers’ strike — with “AI is not a writer” signs becoming emblems of a fight that soon drew SAG-AFTRA out alongside them. The deal ratified that October set the template: AI cannot write or rewrite literary material; AI-generated material is not source material for credit or pay purposes; writers cannot be required to use AI, though they may choose to with studio consent; companies must disclose any AI-generated material they hand a writer; and the guild reserved the right to challenge the use of writers’ work to train AI systems.
After the contract
The Brookings Institution called the outcome a landmark for labor far beyond Hollywood — proof a workforce could bargain enforceable guardrails around generative AI rather than await legislation. The guild has kept pressing: in 2025 the WGA West publicly urged studios to sue AI companies that trained on their copyrighted scripts, arguing the industry was letting tech firms strip-mine its libraries. Guild leaders are careful to note the contract restrains how studios deploy AI, not what technology can do — a distinction the next negotiation cycles will test as the tools improve.
Quote sources
- WGA 2023 MBA summary(wga.org)
Sources & further reading
Canonical record: https://battlelines.ai/topic/writers-guild-of-america
