WGAE Launches Partnership with Cloak, an AI-Shielding Tool for Members, Script Registrants

NEW YORK, NY (October 20, 2026) – The Writers Guild of America East, AFL-CIO (WGAE) today announced a new partnership with Cloak, a software that protects creative content from ingestion by AI models.

WGAE members will have free access to the Cloak software as part of their member benefits via wgaeast.org.

Non-WGA East members can add Cloak protection when registering their work through WGAE Script Registration (scriptregistration.org) for an additional $10. Script Registration is one of the most popular services offered by the Writers Guild of America East. The service is used by tens of thousands of writers and other creatives each year to protect their work before sending it out to agents, producers, actors and others.

Cloak’s patent-pending software renders documents unreadable to most AI models while preserving its original formatting and visibility for human readers. When a member or script registrant uses Cloak, they receive a copy of their file that they can send to producers, agents, actors or editors with the confidence that it is resistant to AI analysis, scraping and training.

“The WGAE partnership with Cloak expands our efforts to protect members’ work and fight back against AI companies exploiting writers and other creative workers,” said Tom Fontana, President of the Writers Guild of America East. “We’re excited about the partnership with Cloak because it means members don’t need to worry that their work will be used to train AI models after they send it to producers or agents – or simply that the product of weeks, months, or years of work will be reduced to an AI-generated summary of an email attachment.”

“Generative AI models are often falsely advertised on the promise that they will make our work obsolete, but the truth is, the creative process is human and always will be,” said Larry J. Cohen, Co-Chair of the WGAE AI Task Force. “That’s why the Guild is advocating for better protections against and awareness of the risks posed by AI – not just through our contracts, but through legislation and member education. Our partnership with Cloak is a natural and necessary extension of our fight to protect our members’ creative rights and the integrity of their work.”

“For the past 3 years, the assumption was that anything you put out onto the internet is at risk of being ingested by AI, so I developed Cloak as a way to give agency back to writers to protect against unwanted AI training, AI notes, and analysis,” said Rishi Ambavanekar, Founder of Cloak. “Until now, there hasn’t been a real technically-sound way to fight back against AI and determine how the content you create actually interacts with it. I hope Cloak can keep creative writing in the hands of people and not as data being processed by machines. I want to thank the WGAE and look forward to seeing writers have more confidence in sharing their work far and wide.”

Artificial Intelligence (“AI”) is a key issue for the Guild — and the entertainment and media industries broadly — with implications for the employment and compensation of many creative workers. Since the 2023 MBA established groundbreaking AI protections for Film/TV/Streaming writers, the WGAE has continued to secure and enforce strong protections against AI in union contracts.

The WGAE is also pursuing federal and state legislation in conjunction with our union allies, newsroom workers and press advocates, including the New York Fundamental Artificial Intelligence Requirements in News Act (NY FAIR News Act), a bill that passed the State legislature and is currently under consideration by Governor Kathy Hochul that would mandate disclaimers on news content that is substantially or wholly created by AI.

The WGAE’s Council launched an AI Task Force with members from all three Guild work sectors. The Task Force meets monthly to track and research AI’s effect on members’ professions, shape actionable ideas, and develop education and advocacy. Learn more about the WGAE’s work on Artificial Intelligence.

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About the Writers Guild of America East
The Writers Guild of America East, AFL-CIO, is a labor union of more than 7,500 members working in film, television, news, podcasts and online media. The Guild negotiates and administers contracts that protect the creative and economic rights of its members; conducts programs, seminars and events on issues of interest to writers; and presents writers’ views to various bodies of government. For more information on the Writers Guild of America East, visit wgaeast.org.

About Cloak
Cloak’s patent-pending software renders documents unreadable to most AI models while preserving its original formatting and visibility for human readers. When a member or script registrant uses Cloak, they receive a copy of their file that they can send to producers, agents, actors or editors with the confidence that it is resistant to AI analysis, scraping and training.

About WGAE Script Registration
WGAE Script Registration is an industry-leading service that creates a dated record of writers’ claim to authorship to protect their literary material from unauthorized use. Registration lasts for 10 years and costs $10 for WGAE members, or $25 for non-members. For an additional $10, the Cloak add-on expands these existing protections include resistance to analysis, scraping or training by AI.

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