WGA Urges Studios to Sue Tech Companies Over AI Training on Copyrighted Works
The Writers Guild of America sent a letter to major Hollywood studios demanding they take legal action against tech companies that have used copyrighted works by WGA members to train artificial intelligence systems without permission or compensation. The guild cited a reported use of tens of thousands of films and TV episode subtitles in AI training datasets by companies including Meta and Anthropic, and contended that studios have violated their collective bargaining agreements by failing to defend writers' copyrights.
What happened
The Writers Guild of America sent a letter on December 12, 2024 to the CEOs of Netflix, Warner Bros. Discovery, Disney, Paramount Global, NBCUniversal, Sony, and Amazon MGM Studios urging them to take immediate legal action against tech companies that have used writers' copyrighted works to train artificial intelligence systems.
The guild stated that tech companies including Meta, Apple, Salesforce, and Anthropic have used tens of thousands of films and TV episodes, particularly subtitles, to develop AI training datasets without permission or compensation.
Reported impact
The WGA contends that studios' inaction has harmed WGA members by allowing tech companies to use their copyrighted works without authorization.
The guild claims studios have violated their collective bargaining agreement, which requires them to defend copyrights on behalf of writers.
Index analysis
The incident involves unauthorized use of copyrighted creative works to train commercial AI systems, raising questions about intellectual property protection and fair compensation for creators.
The WGA's assertion that studios have failed to defend writer copyrights points to a contractual and governance gap between studios and the tech companies exploiting the content.
Governance controls
The WGA cited provisions in its collective bargaining agreement requiring studios to defend copyrights on behalf of writers, suggesting existing contractual mechanisms were not enforced.
Classification
Sources and evidence
This record was researched and written by the Index, based on the following original reporting.