Hollywood's Double Strike — Writers and Actors Write AI into the Contract

In 2023 Hollywood's writers and then its actors went on strike, and how generative AI may be used became a formal item of collective bargaining. The Writers Guild of America (WGA) struck from 2 May to 27 September; SAG-AFTRA, the actors' union, from 14 July to 9 November. On 24 September 2023 the WGA reached a tentative agreement with the studios' bargaining group, the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP), putting into a union contract the rule that "AI can't write or rewrite literary material." This page is dated to that tentative agreement: it was the day the AI terms were first agreed between the two sides, and the ratification on 9 October confirmed them.

Why AI was on the table

On 1 May 2023, less than six months after ChatGPT appeared, the WGA set out for members where bargaining stood. Its AI proposal had three parts: "AI can't write or rewrite literary material; can't be used as source material; and MBA-covered material can't be used to train AI." The AMPTP "Rejected our proposal. Countered by offering annual meetings to discuss advancements in technology."

The same day, announcing the strike, the guild listed the companies' refusal to guarantee weekly employment in episodic television alongside "their stonewalling on free work for screenwriters and on AI for all writers". The core of the dispute was pay, streaming residuals and conditions of employment; AI was one strand. The source-material demand was aimed at a specific risk: AI output being dressed up as "source material" to weaken a writer's credit and rights.

The writers' deal — four provisions

After what the guild counted as 148 days on strike, the WGA announced the tentative agreement on 24 September and published the deal points on 26 September. The strike ended at 12:01 a.m. Pacific time on 27 September, and members voted from 2 to 9 October. Of 8,525 valid votes, 8,435 were yes and 90 no — 99 per cent in favour. The contract runs from 25 September 2023 to 1 May 2026.

According to the WGA's summary, the AI terms are these.

Measured against May, the first two demands were essentially met; the training ban was not. What the writers won was not "AI may not be used" but "using AI cannot lower the writer's standing".

The actors' deal — digital replicas and consent

For actors the issue was more direct: a digital replica built from scans of a face or a voice can be used without the performer present. According to the reporting summarised by English Wikipedia, SAG-AFTRA's chief negotiator Duncan Crabtree-Ireland alleged that the studios had proposed scanning background actors for one day's pay and holding rights to their likenesses indefinitely; the AMPTP denied this, saying replicas would be used only in the production they were made for, with consent and further pay required for anything else.

SAG-AFTRA struck on 14 July, reached a tentative agreement on 8 November and ended the strike on 9 November. In the ratification vote announced on 5 December, 78.33 per cent voted yes on a turnout of 38.15 per cent. According to analyses by the law firm DLA Piper and the Authors Guild, the main AI terms are:

• A distinction between an "employment-based" digital replica, made during a performer's employment with their participation, and an "independently created" one, made from existing material
• For both, consent that is "clear and conspicuous" and a "reasonably specific description" of the intended use
• Consent survives the performer's death unless otherwise stated; where consent is needed after death, an authorised representative may give it
• Producers must notify the union when they use synthetic performers not based on a specific actor, and bargain over compensation
• Using performances to train AI is not prohibited; the union secured only a promise to meet regularly about pay for such use

The deal was contested from inside. Negotiating committee member Shaan Sharma, who urged a no vote, told NPR: "There are so many loopholes, that it really isn't protection." Crabtree-Ireland answered that "We pushed the companies to agree to things they said they would never agree to when the negotiations started," and said further AI protections could be negotiated in the next contract.

Who gained what

The writers and actors did not stop AI from coming into production. What they won was choice over whether to use it, the right to be told when it has been used, and consent before their likeness or voice is copied. The Authors Guild, which represents book authors, published its own analysis presenting the actors' deal as an important set of AI safeguards.

Training remained the open question. Neither writers' scripts nor actors' performances were contractually protected from it. Who should license training data, and who should be paid, went to the courts instead — see The New York Times v. OpenAI and Bartz v. Anthropic.

The 2026 renewals

Three years on, both unions extended the AI terms. Item 15 of the memorandum of agreement the WGA and the AMPTP signed on 4 April 2026 requires each company to meet the guild at least semi-annually, on request, to discuss its use of generative AI, and to give written notice when it grants a paid licence to an unaffiliated third party to use covered literary material to train a public-facing generative AI system — a "GAI License" — and to meet about it, including remuneration, if the guild asks. Members ratified the contract on 24 April 2026 with 90.38 per cent in favour; it runs from 2 May 2026 to 1 May 2030.

SAG-AFTRA's new TV/theatrical contract was ratified in a vote that closed on 4 June 2026, with 91.42 per cent in favour; it builds on the earlier digital-replica protections and adds terms that further restrict the use of synthetic performers. In video games, SAG-AFTRA struck from July 2024 over consent and pay for AI replicas, reached a deal in June 2025 and ratified it with more than 95 per cent support.