Hundreds of nurses join actors, writers on strike to share one message: 'Flip the script on AI'

LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- Hundreds of nurses joined Hollywood writers and actors on the picket lines Tuesday for a solidarity march that focused on their concerns regarding artificial intelligence.

Registered nurses with National Nurses United, the nation's largest union of registered nurses, rallied around the Sunset Bronson Studios, many with signs that read, "Flip the script on AI."

The actors' strike centers on their pay, which they say has been undercut by streaming and inflation, as well as health benefits, the growing tendency to make performers create video auditions at their own expense and the threat of unregulated use of AI.

In screenwriters' contract talks, the Writers Guild of America said it would allow for the use of AI - but only insofar as it was a tool for them to use in their own work.

They would be willing, potentially, to shape stories with help from AI software. But they do not want it to affect the credits that are essential to their prestige and pay.

The guild wants to prevent raw, AI-generated storylines or dialogue from being regarded as "literary material" - a term in their contracts for scripts and other story forms a screenwriter produces. This means they wouldn't be competing with computers for credit - or for an original screenplay Oscar.

The writers also don't want those storylines or dialogue to be considered "source material" - their contractual language for the novels, video games or other works that writers may develop into scripts.

The issues look a bit different for nurses, of course, but their support comes at an inflection point in both industries.

National Nurses United said with a major staffing crisis happening in hospitals across the country, nurses are alarmed by the increasing use of AI and "its impact on its members' ability to provide quality patient care."

"For the writers and the actors, it's about their creativity ... their ability to earn a living wage and for us as registered nurses, we see the technology at work," said California Nurses Association President Cathy Kennedy, who believes AI technologies cannot replace humans and the hands-on attention of nurses.

California Nurses Association/National Nurses United has with 100,000 members in more than 200 facilities throughout California and nearly 225,000 RNs nationwide, according to its website.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.