Stoneage Ramblings

By John R. Stone

There are a couple of major labor strikes going on and while they are from some very different fields, acting, screenplay writing and auto assemblers, they are tied to one trend, changes in technology.

Writers and actors are in a difficult position. Artificial intelligence (AI) is probably a tool that networks and streamers will want to use to cut the cost of production. That could eliminate a lot of writers.

AI has gotten to a point where it could speed up script writing and new imaging technologies can create lifelike images of people with famous faces and create spoken words that sound like them.

So, naturally, actors want to be able to protect their unique speech and appearance characteristics as their own and receive compensation if they are used by others, especially others who would use those imagines or sounds to make money.

This also comes at a time when television in particular is changing. Years ago we had network television that was supported by ads and was free to us. Then, as Internet data speeds increased, some companies streamed content over the Internet for a monthly fee.

This cut network TV viewership, making it hard for networks, and few streaming services really got enough traffic to be big moneymakers over the long haul. So everybody is hurting.

The strike has gone on long enough that there will probably be no fall TV scheduling which means you will see a lot more sports and a lot more reality TV programming since those don’t require writers or actors.  If this strike drags on we may see sports on TV that previously would never had a chance to be broadcast before.

Auto workers are in a similar position. The shift to electric vehicles in coming years is going to mean a huge shift in vehicle assembly and auto parts businesses.

An electric vehicle doesn’t need a transmission, cooling system for an engine, all that pollution reduction stuff for exhaust, in fact there is no exhaust system needed. So those cars will be easier to assemble and probably require fewer workers.        

Auto workers have seen major changes in their work over the years. Many years ago an auto manufacturer made its own parts and put everything together. Now auto plants are called “vehicle assembly plants” because now workers assemble component packages. Motor-transmission assemblies come as one unit, dashboards are a unit, wiring harnesses are units and so on. Some are made by company-owned subsidiaries, some are purchased from companies that specialize in making auto parts.

So a move to electric cars is going to have a huge impact on a variety of firms related to the auto industry. A lot of jobs are going to change or be gone.

It remains to be seen what will finally come of the writers and actors strike and television programming. There will be changes. The Internet has spread advertising dollars so thin that television networks cannot continue to operate as they have. That will affect all with whom they deal whether it is content providers or users of their service.

Cable companies say they are getting hit by content providers wanting more money and those companies are fighting to keep customers who are getting siphoned off by streamers. But streamers aren’t free either.

The writers and actors strike is probably just going to accelerate change that would have come anyway. As consumers we’ll pay more, we’re just not sure yet to whom that money will go.

The auto workers are on the cusp of change, too. Auto companies have had some good years since the end of the pandemic and parts shortages. But they need to invest heavily into electric vehicles to get caught up.  They are years behind many companies like Tesla and some foreign manufacturers.

While we look at technological changes for their benefits to us personally, these changes do affect others in not so pleasant ways. It will be interesting to see how this all shakes out.