AI and unions: what Hollywood contracts say about AI at work

Some of the first detailed workplace rules on generative AI were not written by lawmakers but bargained by unions. Hollywood's writers and actors negotiated AI terms in 2023 and extended them in 2026, and film and TV musicians and crews won their own in 2024. This page summarizes what those contracts say, from the unions' and producers' own documents, and what the same questions look like in any workplace where AI is changing the work.

This is a plain-language summary, not legal advice. The contracts themselves are the authority.

The short answer: the writers' contract says AI is not a writer, a company cannot make a writer use AI, and AI-generated material must be disclosed. The actors' contract requires consent and a specific description before a performer's digital replica is made or used, limits synthetic performers, and protects biometric data. Both now require producers to tell the union if they license members' work to train a commercial generative AI system, and to meet about it on request.

Writers: the WGA Minimum Basic Agreement

The Writers Guild of America says its 2023 contract set these rules for AI on covered projects (WGA West, Artificial Intelligence):

• AI is not a writer: neither traditional AI nor generative AI is a writer, so material it produces is not literary material under the contract.
• No AI-generated starting point to cut pay: unpublished AI-generated material given to a writer does not count as source material or assigned material, so a company cannot hand a writer an AI-generated screenplay and pay only a rewrite fee.
• Use is the writer's choice: a writer can use AI if the company consents and the writer follows company policy, but the company cannot require a writer to use AI software.
• Disclosure: the company must tell the writer if material it provides was generated by AI or includes AI-generated material.
• Training: the Guild reserves the right to assert that using writers' material to train AI is prohibited by the contract or other law.

The 2026 contract, running from 2 May 2026 to 1 May 2030, keeps those protections and adds one on training (WGA, Summary of the 2026 MBA). A company that grants a paid license to an unaffiliated third party to use covered literary material to train a public-facing commercially available generative AI system must give the Guild written notice and, at the Guild's request, meet to discuss the license, including remuneration, if any. Companies also agree to meet the Guild at least twice a year on request to review their use and intended use of generative AI in development and production (2026 WGA Memorandum of Agreement, item 15). Members ratified the contract on 24 April 2026 (WGA).

Actors: the SAG-AFTRA TV/Theatrical contracts

SAG-AFTRA and the producers' association, the AMPTP, reached a tentative agreement on 2 May 2026 (AMPTP). The signed memorandum sets a term from 1 July 2026 to 30 June 2030 and includes these AI terms (2026 SAG-AFTRA Memorandum of Agreement):

• Consent for digital replicas: a producer must get a performer's consent to create a digital replica, and separate consent to use it in new scenes the performer did not record. Consent must be clear and conspicuous and include a reasonably specific description of the intended use.
• A reason to scan: a producer must have an articulable business reason when asking to scan a performer.
• Dubbing: for productions starting principal photography on or after 1 July 2027, with contracts made on or after that date, using a digital replica to change a performer's voice into another language needs the performer's consent.
• Biometric data: fingerprints, palmprints and iris scans may not be used for purposes unrelated to the production, apart from ordinary security systems.
• Strikes and security: a digital replica may not replace a performer during an authorized strike where consent would be required, and access to replicas must be limited and protected.
• Minors: a minor's digital replica may not be used to depict the minor nude or in simulated sexual activity.
• Synthetic performers: producers say they do not intend to use a generative AI "synthetic" in a human role unless it brings significant additional value. If they do, they must notify the union and bargain, and the union can arbitrate remuneration, which goes to the union's health or pension plan.
• Training: as with writers, a paid license of covered performances to train a public-facing commercial generative AI system must be notified to the union, with a meeting on request. Producers also agree to meet at least twice a year on request about their use of generative AI.

The producers also issued a bulletin affirming their intention to keep employing human stunt performers and puppeteers.

Musicians: the AFM film and TV agreements

The American Federation of Musicians bargained AI terms with the studios in 2024. Its agreements, ratified in April 2024 (AFM) and running for three years, say the term musicians "includes only humans". When a producer uses generative AI prompted with specific recorded music to create new sound track that gives the clear impression of musicians playing something they did not play, it must notify the union and pay the musicians whose recordings were in the prompt, for each 15 minutes used in the released picture. A producer needs a sideline musician's consent to create a digital replica of them, and the union can ask to meet at least twice a year about the producer's use of generative AI (AFM and AMPTP Memorandum of Understanding, 2024). See will AI replace musicians?

Crews: the IATSE Basic Agreement

The 2024 Basic Agreement between IATSE, the union for film and TV crew, and the producers runs from 1 August 2024 to 31 July 2027 and takes a different approach from the writers' contract (2024 IATSE Basic Agreement, Article L):

• Use can be required: a producer may require employees to use an AI system for covered work, and employees doing that work, including writing prompts, stay covered by the agreement. At the employee's request, a decision to require AI use is subject to consultation, if production allows time.
• No prompting a colleague out of a job: the producer will not require an employee to provide prompts in a manner that results in the displacement of any covered employee.
• Policies and protection: employees using AI must follow the producer's policies, which must be given to them, and the producer indemnifies employees against claims arising from AI use within their job, with conditions.
• Training: the parties call training the preferred way to address the impact of new technology and set up a committee for training in AI skills and in moving to other covered jobs.
• Meetings: industry-wide meetings at least twice a year and company meetings quarterly on request, where topics can include jobs affected by AI, safety around AI-controlled equipment and bias.
• Likeness: no employee may be scanned for their visual or vocal likeness for use in a motion picture without consent, which cannot be made a condition of employment.

What other workplaces can take from this

Most workers are not covered by a contract like these, but the questions they answer come up wherever AI is introduced:

• Is AI use required or optional? The writers' rule is that the company cannot require it; the crew agreement lets the producer require it, with consultation and a promise not to use workers' prompts to displace colleagues. An AI policy for employees should say which tools are approved and when using them is a choice.
• Do people know when AI was involved? Disclosure of AI-generated material runs through both contracts.
• Who controls a person's likeness, voice or data? Consent with a specific description of the use is the actors' standard.
• Is anyone paid when work is used to train AI? Writers and actors won notice and a meeting, not a guaranteed payment; musicians won a set payment when their recordings prompt AI-generated sound track.
• Is there a regular conversation? All four contracts set regular meetings on request about how AI is used. In Great Britain, a recognised union can also request information it needs to bargain; see disclosure of information for collective bargaining.

In the EU, employers deploying a high-risk AI system at the workplace must inform workers' representatives and affected workers before putting it into use (EU AI Act, Article 26(7)). For the wider EU duty to inform and consult on changes to work organisation, see consulting employees before an AI rollout. In Great Britain, union officials also have a right to paid time off for these negotiations; see trade union time off. Hiring filters, monitoring or scoring tools that penalise union membership or activity are covered by the rules on union membership protection. If AI leads to job cuts, collective consultation and notice rules can apply; see AI and layoffs: consultation and notice rules. See AI at work and workers' rights for the rest of that framework, AI-generated work and copyright for who owns AI-assisted work, and the job guides will AI replace writers? and will AI replace actors?