STARS - ELO (Un)linked 2024: Hollywood Film Workers Strike Against AI: Understanding Algorithmic Resistance to Generative Cinematography
Algorithms & Imaginaries Submission Type Paper Start Date/Time (EDT) 18-7-2024 2:15 PM End Date/Time (EDT) 18-7-2024 3:15 PM Location Algorithms & Imaginaries Abstract In this talk, I explore the central question: why were Hollywood film workers striking or supporting strikes against artificial intelligence (AI)? With the rise of large language models such as DALL-E, Stable Diffusion, Midjourney, RunwayAI, and more, generative AI is increasingly playing a role in the development of screenplays, imagery, sounds, and post-production processes—but not without resistance. While the image and its technological reproduction have ongoingly been in crisis, AI is among one of the latest advances that is generating controversy in the Hollywood studio system. Through participant observation on the picket line and interviews with 15 film workers including union members of the WGA (writers guild), SAG-AFTRA (actors guild), and IATSE (behind-the-scenes workers guild), I investigate the growing resistance to AI for film production, as well as workers’ emerging perceptions of generative cinematography more broadly. Consequently, I argue that film worker opposition does not contest AI itself, but rather how studios might use it to undermine their labor and craft in mutually constituent ways. Toward this end, I identify boiling tensions across three axes of labor: automation of film crew and cast; disruption of roles and responsibilities; trivialization and invisibilization of workers. I then surface eight aspects of filmmaking’s humanistic tradition that AI challenges: subjectivity, nuance, slowness, spontaneity, heart and soul, physicality, connectedness, and realness. Amid these concerns around futures of labor and craft, I discuss how film production might integrate as well as refuse to integrate with AI developments—opening alternative algorithmic possibilities and worker-centered programs for generative cinematography. COinS Jul 18th, 2:15 PM Jul 18th, 3:15 PM Algorithms & Imaginaries In this talk, I explore the central question: why were Hollywood film workers striking or supporting strikes against artificial intelligence (AI)? With the rise of large language models such as DALL-E, Stable Diffusion, Midjourney, RunwayAI, and more, generative AI is increasingly playing a role in the development of screenplays, imagery, sounds, and post-production processes—but not without resistance. While the image and its technological reproduction have ongoingly been in crisis, AI is among one of the latest advances that is generating controversy in the Hollywood studio system. Through participant observation on the picket line and interviews with 15 film workers including union members of the WGA (writers guild), SAG-AFTRA (actors guild), and IATSE (behind-the-scenes workers guild), I investigate the growing resistance to AI for film production, as well as workers’ emerging perceptions of generative cinematography more broadly. Consequently, I argue that film worker opposition does not contest AI itself, but rather how studios might use it to undermine their labor and craft in mutually constituent ways. Toward this end, I identify boiling tensions across three axes of labor: automation of film crew and cast; disruption of roles and responsibilities; trivialization and invisibilization of workers. I then surface eight aspects of filmmaking’s humanistic tradition that AI challenges: subjectivity, nuance, slowness, spontaneity, heart and soul, physicality, connectedness, and realness. Amid these concerns around futures of labor and craft, I discuss how film production might integrate as well as refuse to integrate with AI developments—opening alternative algorithmic possibilities and worker-centered programs for generative cinematography. Accessibility Statement This item was created or digitized prior to April 24, 2027, or is a reproduction of legacy media created before that date. It is preserved in its original, unmodified state specifically for research, reference, or historical recordkeeping. In accordance with the ADA Title II Final Rule, the University Libraries provides accessible versions of archival materials upon request. To request an accommodation for this item, please submit an accessibility request form.