Journalists Launch Nationwide Strikes Over Concerns on AI, Layoffs in Industry

Journalists, for the past week, have been joining picket lines across the US as union workers call for better pay and response to growing concerns over AI and mass layoffs in the industry.

The NewsGuild-CWA took it to the streets in time with the sixth-year anniversary of the Los Angeles Times newsroom voting to formally unionize.

Many journalists have demanded higher wages despite the media companies reporting all-time high revenues since the stock market crash in 2007-2008.

The strikes were initiated following successful protests across other union groups, with the Hollywood strike by the WGA and SAG-AFTRA last year being the most notable.

Journalist Strike Needed in This 'Crisis Moment': Labor Group

NewsGuild-CWA President Jon Schleuss scrutinized publications cost-cutting while journalists are "facing a crisis moment" amid high inflation, unstable job security, and "terrible pay inequity."

Schleuss was a former data reporter at the LA Times before leading the union 11 years ago.

While journalists from the LA Times have been leading the strikes, other picket lines are being formed by unions at the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, the Washington Post, and many more.

Journalists are now entering the third week of the nationwide protest, although several wage strikes have only lasted for a day merely as a sign of solidarity.

AI Being Pushed More on News Publications, Media

News publication content is the most commonly used data by AI companies to train their chatbots, where data sets often contain millions of copyrighted contents taken from the internet.

With the New York Times filing a copyright lawsuit against OpenAI, AI firms have shifted strategy in order to continue using the media's licensed content to train their AI models.

To avoid further litigations, companies have started wooing publications for legal licensure by offering their services in return.

At the same time, publications have started integrating more AI tools into their arsenal to either ease journalist's role in writing reports or remove redundant tasks.

Many journalists and union members have long expressed the risks of allowing such deals to go unregulated as it can ignite similar scenarios happening in the tech industry right now.