‘AI is Soulless’: Hollywood Film Workers Strike and Emerging Perceptions of Generative Cinema

Why were Hollywood film workers striking or supporting strikes against artificial intelligence (AI) in 2023? To investigate this question, we conduct participant observation on the picket line and interview 15 film workers, including 12 union members from SAG-AFTRA, WGA, and IATSE, as well as 3 non-unionized workers, across roles. From screenwriting to acting, our interlocutors described how studio use of AI might exacerbate wage squeeze, estrangement from embodied co-creation, rush for results, and inauthentic creativity. We find that film worker resistance to emergent and projected uses of AI echoes earlier technical developments, such as the incorporation of sound, color, HD, DVD, and CGI. These innovations initially sparked anxieties about the demise of cinema, but ultimately created new aesthetic possibilities and professions. We end with a reflection on core concerns for worker engagement, including topics of prophesy and the “soul” of sociotechnical labor.