WGA East “Demands Immediate End” To AI-Generated Articles On G/O Media Sites
With artificial intelligence at the heart of negotiations between the Writers Guild and Hollywood studios — and also SAG-AFTRA’s contract talks — the WGA East today is demanding “an immediate end of AI-generated articles on G/O Media sites.”
The union reps about 100 staffers at the media company whose sites include The Onion, A.V. Club, Deadspin, Gizmodo and several others.
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“Our members in the GMG Union and Onion Union have demanded bargaining from G/O Media on this new workplace development to no avail,” WGAE said today. Read the full WGA East statement below.
Calling bot-penned journalism “an oxymoron,” the union noted that “last week, G/O Media published AI-generated articles on several unionized properties, embarrassing staff who work hard under untenable conditions to fill websites with relevant, accurate, and engaging journalism. The posted articles, called ‘tests’ by G/O management, were riddled with errors and even an ethnic slur. Management’s ill-considered decision to use AI — after both unions openly and preemptively pleaded against it — garnered deservedly negative media coverage everywhere—industry trades, technology sites, and even Fox News.”
Here is the WGA East’s full statement on G/O Media sites using AI-generated articles:
The Writers Guild of America, East (WGAE) council demands an immediate end of AI-generated articles on G/O Media sites (A.V. Club, Deadspin, Gizmodo, Jalopnik, Jezebel, Kotaku, The Onion, Quartz, The Root, The Takeout). Our members in the GMG Union and Onion Union have demanded bargaining from G/O Media on this new workplace development to no avail.
Last week, G/O Media published AI-generated articles on several unionized properties, embarrassing staff who work hard under untenable conditions to fill websites with relevant, accurate, and engaging journalism. The posted articles, called “tests” by G/O management, were riddled with errors and even an ethnic slur. Management’s ill-considered decision to use AI—after both unions openly and preemptively pleaded against it—garnered deservedly negative media coverage everywhere—industry trades, technology sites, and even Fox News. Still, a company representative told The Washington Post that these articles were “successful.”
These AI-generated posts are only the beginning. Such articles represent an existential threat to journalism. Our members are professionally harmed by G/O Media’s supposed “test” of AI-generated articles. But this fight is not only about members in online media.
This is the same fight happening in broadcast newsrooms throughout our union. This is the same fight our film, television, and streaming colleagues are waging against the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) in their strike.
AI-generated journalism is an oxymoron that we cannot allow to take hold among media outlets. Do not click on these stories. Do not give these companies the satisfaction of a click. That traffic cannibalizes the great work done by our overworked members.
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