The Sarah Silverman et al. lawsuit against ChatGPT for scraping her book suggests that the use of copyright works by AI manipulators may have unfortunate consequences for IP thieves who claim to be producing new works. The studios see AI as a free cash cow, not just to substitute for the intellectual effort by screenwriters but the acting talent of actors (including voice actors). This is the additional common denominator that writers and actors are affected by this new technology, since it will probably reduce writing and acting opportunities (from what I can tell, the DGA extracted only a marginal concession on AI-assisted creation--at this point, AI appears to have less impact on directing tasks).

The fail-safe plan for producers and streaming companies like Netflix seems to be this: rather than producing a glut of new content and hoping that a decent percentage will become popular shows / films, while canceling those that fail to reach a certain profitability, producers will simply bankroll fewer shows and movies, which means hiring fewer writers and actors. "There are only so many viewers out there; if we give them fewer good movies, they'll still watch the cheaper and less entertaining fare; what else can they do?"