Your favorite TV show may never be canceled again, thanks to AI

The problem which has caused the film and television industry’s current standstill could ultimately prove to be its solution—artificial intelligence (AI).

The future capabilities of AI could keep actors young, come up with infinite storylines, and keep your favorite TV shows running forever. While this may provide the ultimate binge-watching challenge, is it taking entertainment too far, and ruining what makes film and TV so great?

The potential use of AI is a major point of contention for the ongoing Writers Guild of America (WGA) and the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA) in their negotiations with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP).

The possibilities for AI and its adaptation into television and film is near-limitless. The WGA and SAG-AFTRA fear that writers and actors, both lead and background, could be replaced. Both unions are looking for assurances that that won’t happen.

Futurist Sinéad Bovell recently shared her predictions for the future of television and its relationship with AI during an appearance on CTV show The Social.

“So right now a lot of us choose to listen to audiobooks. Now for anything that’s written in the future, an author could use AI to automatically generate a visual component, so something for us to watch,” Bovell said. “Generative artificial intelligence also means that say we don’t want a movie or a series to end. It doesn’t have to, you could use AI to continue to generate more episodes and other sequels and have this kind of ongoing storyline.”

This hypothetical scenario would surely be the ultimate cost-cutting technique for studios. There’d be no writing staff to pay for storylines, and if AI generated the visual component, no actors to pay either.

“We’re still a couple of years away from this being technically feasible, but you can imagine how in the streaming era, we’re all used to seeing ‘play next episode’ on the ending, maybe it says ‘generate next episode’ with a button to modify the characters, plot, location,” Bovell continued.

The combination of AI livestreaming a new creation was recently seen in the latest season of Black Mirror on Netflix—a show that often starts as entertainment but has proven to be a premonition.

Newsweek contacted both SAG-AFTRA and the WGA to further discuss their AI fears, but no representatives from either group are currently taking interviews whilst on strike.

The WGA did provide Newsweek with an explicit and extensive list of their stance on AI.

Ahead of going on strike, the WGA published their proposal to the AMPTP for the future of AI. “Regulate use of artificial intelligence on MBA-covered projects: 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,” it said.

The WGA claimed that the AMPTP “rejected” their proposal. “Countered by offering annual meetings to discuss advancements in technology,” the WGA said.

Providing more details for Newsweek on the WGA’s minimum basic agreement, their proposal on AI is focused on clearly defining two terms critical to how WGA members are compensated for their work. The first is “literary material” as they want to ensure that “material generated by AI is not considered literary material (screenplays, teleplays, treatments, outlines). The second is “source material.” The WGA spokesperson told Newsweek “because AI is never a writer. Content generated by AI cannot be considered source material (articles, books, comics).”

Marvel and Disney+ recently came under scrutiny for their use of the technology, as they used AI generated artwork to create the opening title sequence for Secret Invasion. While futurist Bovell suggests the raw technology to generate entire future seasons of TV is still some way off, there are some who believe that part of it is already possible.

“Technology is ready to realistically have movies comprised of AI actors, rather than humans, today,” attorney Andrew Lieb, of Lieb at Law, told Newsweek. “To be sure, just go on TikTok and you will find entire squads of AI influencers that you cannot decipher from the real thing with the untrained eye.”

Lieb believes that the way to resolve the dispute between the WGA and SAG-AFTRA, and the AMPTP, is to clearly define terms.

“Maybe we aren’t yet at the point where stars are replaced, but a big part of the SAG strike is about extras being replaced by AI in movies and on TV. So, the real issue is who owns a personality that is replaced by AI? Is it the studio that owns the script and the character or the actor who played that character? Where are the lines?” Lieb hypothesized, suggesting that while rules currently vary from state to state, a national line needs to be drawn.

While SAG-AFTRA failed to respond to Newsweek’s request for comment, the WGA also made their thoughts on AI clear with a Twitter thread, defining their own demands long before they went on strike, back in March 2023.

Until an agreement can be found between the aforementioned groups, Lieb admits that there is someone standing to profit from all of the unclear guidelines—himself.

“We need national lines to be drawn so we can have solid footing about what is permissible and impermissible as AI continues to emerge in the entertainment space. Until then, litigators, like me, will be on the rolodex of anyone who sees themselves in a show when they were never actually there,” he said.