‘Live long and pay us,’ say writers as they give Hollywood studios some feedback

Image of the week: Blank space

Fans of episodic television from the other side of the Atlantic may remember that the last US Writers Guild of America (WGA) strike, 15 years ago, went on for 100 days and had obvious knock-on effects on the quality, quantity and scheduling of that season’s output – somewhat proving the WGA’s point.

It is now “pencils down” once again, with more than 11,000 television and film writers going on strike after studios and streaming services failed to agree a pay and conditions deal with the workers they depend upon. Late-night American talkshows immediately ground to a halt, while inventive signage went on display as pickets formed outside the offices of Netflix, Disney, Paramount, CBS and other entertainment giants in Los Angeles and New York.

Signs included “Live long and pay us”, “I just have a few notes”, the Trump-referencing “Succession without writers is just the Apprentice and look how that worked out” and “I still want to see Batgirl”, a reference to Warner Bros Discovery’s controversial shelving of a DC Comics franchise film at a point when it was nearly finished.

Some signs implied unwritten backstories, from the plaintive “please don’t make me have to move back to Ohio” to “our therapists keep saying we have to stand up for ourselves so here we are, sorry” to “you can’t solve the problem of AI with a training video”. The cleverest sign, however, was one seen outside Netflix that said absolutely nothing at all.

Eir says sorry … again

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In numbers: Ancient windows

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Remaining Health Service Executive (HSE) devices that still run Windows 7, raising fears of a “weak link” in its cybersecurity.

3

Years since Microsoft stopped supporting Windows 7, meaning no technical support or security updates are available for the operating system. The HSE was duly disrupted by a serious cyberattack in May 2021.

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“Legacy systems” running on the HSE’s Windows 7 devices. “Who knows what sort of vulnerabilities are in there,” said the HSE’s former head of digital transformation Prof Martin Curley. Indeed, who?

Getting to know: Vanessa Hudson

Qantas chief financial officer Vanessa Hudson will later this year become chief executive of Australia’s flag carrier, or the new Alan Joyce, following the Dubliner’s move to retire from the role after 15 years that were on the bumpy side at times and so must, by journalistic law, be described as turbulent.

Hudson, a former Deloitte auditor who has worked for Qantas since 1994, knows the 103-year-old airline inside out, which will surely come in handy as she seeks to repair the strained relations between the company and its trade unions and help it build on the momentum of its recent return to profit.

Joyce weathered – just about – criticism encircling the airline as a result of cancelled flights, lost luggage, delays, various other customer service missteps and the outsourcing of ground staff jobs.

His chosen successor, however – deemed less “confrontational” in style – will hope to avoid some of the personal opprobrium he attracted, which, along the way, included the pelting of his Sydney house with eggs and toilet paper.

[ Welcome to the Unicorn Kingdom, says Sunak, in fantasy pitch to business ]

The list: “Godfather” of AI

Geoffrey Hinton, the “godfather” of artificial intelligence who has been helping Google develop its AI capabilities over the past decade, has quit the Alphabet-owned tech giant. So, what has he had to say about why?

1. It’s time: Hinton is 75 “so it’s time to retire”. Alas, this was not the only reason, not even the main reason.

2. Regrets work: The Nobel Prize winner says a part of him now regrets his life’s work. “I console myself with the normal excuse: if I hadn’t done it, somebody else would have,” he said.

3. Change in approach: Hinton was happy with Google’s stewardship of AI until rival Microsoft incorporated Open AI technology into search engine Bing, he told the New York Times. He later clarified in a tweet that Google “has acted very responsibly”.

4. Bad actors: “It is hard to see how you can prevent the bad actors from using it for bad things,” he said of AI, describing some of the dangers of AI chatbots as “quite scary”.

5. Future closes in: The idea that “this stuff could actually get smarter than people” used to be deemed “way off”, even 30-50 years from now. “Obviously, I no longer think that.”