Anthropic · OpenAI · U.S. · Donald Trump · The Verge
What Hollywood thinks about existential AI warnings
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The studios have been silent, but Hollywood’s biggest labor unions aren’t buying the AI apocalypse narrative.
Key facts
- The Screen Actors Guild, American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA) and Writers Guild of America East (WGAE) did, however
- Guild members have bargained meaningful AI protections into their contracts; in 2023 WGA members spent 148 days on strike before the film and television studios agreed to real safeguards for film
- When the reporter recently spoke with the Screen Actors Guild, American Federation of Television and Radio Artists’ (SAG-AFTRA) chief negotiator Duncan Crabtree Ireland, he told me that the union recognized
- Similar to the way that the Hollywood unions advocated for protections and increased oversight around AI’s use during the 2023 strikes, Coxon’s Anthropic exit has inspired a wave of AI researchers
Summary
As the tech sector sounds alarms about AI’s potential to destroy humanity, entertainment labor groups are urging the public to stay focused on what’s already happening. The AI tools used in entertainment production differ from the AI systems that have sparked a recent round of whistleblowing and apocalyptic declarations. But despite the differences between entertainment-focused AI and the models developed by Anthropic and OpenAI, AI models that generate digital facsimiles of actors and attempt to replicate traditional filmmaking tools pose a threat to some human jobs. Similar to the way that the Hollywood unions advocated for protections and increased oversight around AI’s use during the 2023 strikes, Coxon’s Anthropic exit has inspired a wave of AI researchers to speak out in favor of stronger safety protocols. Hollywood cozied up to AI in 2025 and had nothing good to show for it.