Will the Writers Guild of America (WGA) or SAG-AFTRA authorize a strike specifically against the use of Generative AI (outside of existing contract protections) before the end of 2028?

Creative Strike 2.0: Fighting Generative AI by 2028?

While the previous WGA and SAG-AFTRA contract cycles introduced initial protections against AI, the rapid evolution and deployment of sophisticated generative models are outpacing those agreements. The next negotiation cycle will likely see labor demanding far stricter controls, compensation models, and transparency regarding AI training data (using their work).

Non-Negotiable Demands

The strong 'Yes' vote is based on the highly polarized nature of the issue. For the creative guilds, the existential threat of AI replacing their members is non-negotiable. If the studios continue to push for broad, unrestricted use of these tools, the unions are expected to deploy their most powerful weapon—the strike—to protect the future livelihoods of their members, making another shutdown highly probable within the next contract window.