WGA Zeroes In On AI Protections In CBS News Contract Negotiations To “Safeguard Journalism As A Profession”

deadline.com:

Artificial intelligence is taking center stage in yet another set of union negotiations as the Writers Guild of America began talks this week with CBS News on a new collective bargaining agreement.

The WGA represents 270 news writers, producers, promotions writer-producers, editors, graphic artists, and news desk associates at CBS News — all of whom it says are imminently threatened by the lack of journalistic protections against AI. “This is bigger than a question about a wage increase.

This is fundamentally a question about, How is this new technology that a lot of folks have invested significant amounts of capital in going to impact an industry that is the lifeblood of our civic life?” WGA East Executive Director Sam Wheeler tells Deadline. “We view journalists as essential workers.

We view their work as absolutely critical to healthy society and healthy democracy. So given the absence of standards, certainly from the federal government, we believe that collective bargaining is the best way to address those and to safeguard journalism as a profession.” The guild is looking to the provisions in its recently ratified contract with ABC News as the foundation for its CBS News contract.