Carnegie Mellon University

The Block Center has partnered with the AFL-CIO Technology Institute since its inception, hosting various union leadership on campus to learn more about faculty’s research at the intersection of labor and technology.

In early 2024, The Block Center was asked by a union represented by the AFL-CIO—The International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees, Moving Picture Technicians, Artists and Allied Crafts of the United States, Its Territories, and Canada (IATSE)—to assemble an interdisciplinary team of faculty experts to develop policy analysis and recommendations exploring how new artificial intelligence technologies will impact industry jobs. Rapid advances in AI technology are already impacting the entertainment industry and IATSE members across almost all job categories – in some cases enhancing and, in others, threatening tasks and jobs.

Block Center staff synthesized insights from existing literature and then convened a set of faculty working groups centered on three core areas of interest regarding artificial intelligence impact – technology, intellectual property, and governance. The team iteratively met with IATSE leaders who were most engaged with technology issues several times during this work. 

As a result, CMU researchers developed a framework that explores how artificial intelligence and emerging technologies impact the roles of IATSE members that union leadership could use in their contract negotiations with employers. Success in negotiations and broader policy advocacy will support the ability of workers to benefit from change while adjusting to new technology use.

After months of negotiations, IATSE and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers reached a Memorandum of Understanding in August 2024.