Tech warns of AI apocalypse

Anthropic researchers and major AI company leaders are sounding alarms about existential risks, with some claiming the technology could kill all humans within a decade.

Studios stay silent on AI risks

The Verge asked Disney, Netflix, Amazon, Lionsgate, and other studios about their reaction to AI warnings. None responded to requests for comment.

Unions focus on real job threats

SAG-AFTRA and the Writers Guild of America East say entertainment AI differs from existential risk models, but still threatens human jobs through digital actor replicas and script generation.

SAG-AFTRA negotiated protections

During 2023 strikes, the union secured enforceable guardrails requiring studios to get permission and compensate actors for AI-generated replicas of their performances.

Crabtree-Ireland questions tech honesty

SAG-AFTRA's chief negotiator says hearing apocalyptic warnings from the same billionaires profiting from AI makes it hard to know what to trust.

“what to trust or what to believe”

Doomerism drives AI hype

Crabtree-Ireland notes that apocalyptic messaging has become a common marketing tactic for AI companies to generate buzz around their products.

Strike messaging shaped public opinion

SAG-AFTRA's focused strike message about concrete AI threats helped convince the public and studios that the union's concerns deserved serious attention.

Without protections, faster replacement

Crabtree-Ireland believes that without the negotiated guardrails, studios would have adopted digital actor replacement much faster and more aggressively.

Writers Guild condemns tech oligarchs

WGAE executive director Sam Wheeler says the recklessness of tech leaders pushing AI has been matched only by their dishonesty about the risks.

“The recklessness of the tech oligarchs pushing AI on our society has been matched only by their rampant dishonesty.”

Real harms are happening now

Wheeler lists worker disempowerment, internet degradation, disinformation spread, and rising energy costs as concrete harms AI is already causing.

Collective bargaining isn't enough

Wheeler says unions won protections through strikes, but government regulation is needed to address AI harms across society, not just in entertainment.

“collective bargaining is not a replacement for government regulation”

Hold humans accountable, not AI

Wheeler argues that AI harms result from human decisions, and the solution is holding companies and executives liable for the damage their products cause.

“These harms are the result of decisions made by human beings.”