The WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes have brought the conversation of A.I. into the mainstream consciousness. So I thought I’d hit some points about how the technology might affect us in the audio drama world.
First thing to keep in mind is that the guilds are fighting for the members of the guilds. The demands they are making will most likely not include any of us who are working non-union. I would like to hope a decision is made that benefits all creatives whether members or not, but I have worked both as a union and non-union background actor and will say that the only regulations on how Hollywood treats non-union creatives is based on California and Los Angeles County workplace laws. You’re not in the guild, you don’t receive any of the things they’ve agreed upon for their members.
Okay, so why does it matter if A.I. comes to Audio Drama? There are definitely the doom-and-gloom predictions. That our work we’ve sent out into the ether can now be sourced by A.I. and used to write or voice new works without our permission or even knowledge. I don’t know if that’s definitely the path we’re on or even how quickly that could truly take hold. But I’ll tell you why it concerns me. That non-creatives will see this as a pathway to joining the ranks of creatives. And that 100% undermines the skill, talent and training that it takes to become good in a creative field. Remember “A League of their Own“? One of the best moments in the film is when Geena Davis is leaving the team and Tom Hanks demands to know why. She says, “It just became too hard.” And he snaps back, “It’s supposed to be hard. If it wasn’t hard, everyone would do it. The hard is what makes it great.”
Being a creative means failing. Failing a lot. It’s trying something new, pushing the limits of what you can do, and seeing if it will work. Then you grow. You learn each time and get stronger and better. How will that work with A.I. writing your script for you? There’s no risk. There’s no willingness to explore. There’s no personal pieces of yourself in the art. You may have a script to show the world, maybe even manage to get more outside pieces to create the entire final project for you. But that doesn’t make you a creative. Any more than if I strapped on a pair of robotic legs and played basketball. It’s not leveling the playing field, it’s cheating.
So what if someone wants to cheat? Maybe there’s an audience for it, too? Creatives here in the audio drama world at the indie level fight every day to get noticed. Our work floats in an ocean of noise as we try to reach more ears. It would be a huge injustice to have the market flooded with non-creative’s A.I. generated material. We’re already struggling against the big name production companies who throw celebrities and money at their projects. Those projects will always have visibility. But the indie world will be listing true creative work alongside A.I. work with no one browsing knowing the difference. We’ll lose the little bit of visibility we have right now. And then… will it be worth it to go on?
Throughout history, new technology has been viewed as a threat and people have preached against it. Old time radio did eventually give way to television. But the difference is, creatives who worked in radio could continue creating in television. This time the technology isn’t opening up a new platform for entertainment. It’s joining the platform we’re already using and doing it without creatives at all. Video didn’t really kill the radio star. But A.I. could kill the indie creator.
