The Writers Guild has published their new contract.
The section on AI is exemplary.
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AI can’t write or rewrite literary material, and AI-generated material will not be considered source material under the MBA, meaning that AI-generated material can’t be used to undermine a writer’s credit or separated rights.
A writer can choose to use AI when performing writing services, if the company consents and provided that the writer follows applicable company policies, but the company can’t require the writer to use AI software (e.g., ChatGPT) when performing writing services.
The Company must disclose to the writer if any materials given to the writer have been generated by AI or incorporate AI-generated material.
The WGA reserves the right to assert that exploitation of writers’ material to train AI is prohibited by MBA or other law.
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Mutual consent at every stage. GUILDS are supposed to do for skills what banks do for money.
Between the two Gilded Ages we had the Union Age, 1933 to 1979. Predatory corporations existed, but they were CONSTRAINED by hardass Fed regulators AND by hardass unions. They knew exactly how far they could grow, and they didn’t try to go beyond the limits. They were forced to operate on PROFIT and DIVIDENDS instead of share value, which means they were forced to have EMPLOYEES and PRODUCTS.
During a Gilded Age, robber barons have names. Everyone can list several robber barons. During the Union Age, there weren’t any named or famed robber barons. In fact the most famous leaders were union leaders.
Gilded Age 1 = Carnegie, Vanderbilt, Morgan, Mellon, Stanford.
Union Age = Jimmy Hoffa, James Petrillo, Walter Reuther.
Gilded Age 2 = Gates, Bezos, Zuckerberg, Jobs, Musk.
The most important purpose of unions is protecting SKILLS, in other words HUMAN CAPITAL.
Humans are meant to be useful. Specifically, men are meant to MAKE THINGS. Unions were organizations of makers, and they did everything necessary to preserve the GOD-ASSIGNED DUTY of their members.
Unions amass and protect human capital by training and improving the skills of their members. Unions protect their human capital from THEFT by cheap knockoffs, offshoring, and now AI.
When unions are in charge of a workplace, they have strict rules forbidding non-union workers from doing jobs that were part of the union’s skill capital. These rules often seem silly, but they are the most important part of the union’s task. Now the non-union workers include software along with wetware.
Unions treat human capital the same way banks formerly treated money capital. Savings earned interest (experience and training); savings were guarded against theft; savings were employed to create more value.
In the ’70s the big unions lost the human capital aspect and focused solely on wages, which really meant the wealth of the union leaders. They were perfectly willing to destroy entire categories of skills to maintain the wealth of the leaders.
Unions lost their DUTY and deserved to fail.
Now they’re recapturing their basic DUTY.
Polistra's Mill 