The members of two screenwriter unions, the Federation of Screenwriters in Europe (FSE), and the International Affiliation of Writers Guilds (IAWG), have passed a joint resolution calling for the ethical use of artificial intelligence based on guidelines that respect their copyright. The move comes amid the rapid rollout of new high-powered AI tools that some see a threat to jobs and business models in the creative industries.

Among the principles outlined in the statement are that only human writers, not AI models, be granted copyright for original works, that only licensed material be used to train said models, and that mechanisms be put in place to ensure writers are informed if AI is used to write, rewrite, polish or perform any additional writing services. Irish screenwriter and IAWG chair Jennifer Davidson said the international screenwriter guilds want to build on the hard-won protections our sister guilds in America, the WGAE and the WGAW, were able to achieve during their strike: namely that it should be a tool to enhance our writing process, not diminish the value of our work or replace us.

The move by international screenwriters follows the European Unions groundbreaking AI Act, the first comprehensive law regulating artificial intelligence, which was enacted last month. One of the provisions of the new legislation is that general-purpose AI systems will be required to show how the content used for training their models respects European copyright law.

German Screenwriter and FSE President, Carolin Otto said the guilds applaud the work of the EU to enact the AI Act, but said there were still unresolved issues with respect to the unauthorized use of our intellectual property for training large language models, and uncertainty regarding authorship and copyright of machine-generated script material. The screenwriter guilds are calling for standard legal language protecting creators and their material from AI abuse that film and TV writers can demand to be included in their contracts.

In a related matter, new legislation introduced in the U.S. this week by Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), would require firms to disclose which copyrighted works were used to train their generative AI systems. Under the proposed law, a company like OpenAI would be forced to reveal which videos and other content used to create Sora, its service that can produce hyperrealistic video clips with a simple text prompt. If Sora or other AI systems can be shown to have been trained on copyrighted works, the original creators could have grounds to sue the companies that created them.

The joint statement by the FSE and IAWG lists five principles to establish an ethical framework for the development and use of artificial intelligence in the scriptwriting process.

The five principles are as follows:

1) Affirm that only writers create literary material and that large language models (LLMs) or any other present or future forms of artificial intelligence (AI), cannot be used in place of writers;

2) Work to create mechanisms for obligatory transparency and accountability and to ensure writers are informed if AI-generated material is used to write, rewrite, polish or perform any additional writing services;

3) Advocate for robust licensing mechanisms that require explicit and informed consent for the use of writers intellectual property in AI training data with a goal to ensure only intellectual property that has been licensed for such use be included in the datasets of commercialized LLMs, or any other present or future forms of AI;

4) Ensure that only human beings are entitled to authors rights and recognized under copyright law in the context of machine-generated material;

5) Advocate for fair remuneration for the use of writers intellectual property in LLMs (Large Language Models) or any other present or future forms of AI.

The Federation of Screenwriters in Europe is a collective organization bringing together 32 screenwriters guilds and associations across 26 European countries. The International Affiliation of Writers Guilds represents 14 unions and organizations across 12 countries.