Monday, November 02, 2026
IATSE’s First Tech Officer Talks AI and Reskilling
www.hollywoodreporter.com: Enter Jillian Arnold, the more than 170,000-person labor group’s first labor and technology intelligence officer, tasked with keeping the union abreast of technological developments and protecting its workers. With a jurisdiction spanning the U.S. and Canada, she’s set to get involved in contract negotiations, reskilling and upskilling initiatives and federal and state policy efforts.
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This subject can be quite polarizing. Unions, especially IATSE, working to embrace AI to some laborers can send a bad signal for their future, but I think this specific move signals the opposite. With Arnold spearheading the AI subcommittee, and now as IATSE’s labor and technology officer, she is working to get ahead of the waves AI will cause in the industry once proper applications are developed. If IATSE is involved in the development of these applications they will be able to protect workers and their rights. Technical theatre is all about taking tools from other industries and adapting them to be our own, and, as Arnold acknowledges, this is done by technicians hand in hand with the industry. If AI tools and applications are developed by IATSE or technicians the “tool” aspect will surely be emphasized.
However, it is also apparent that just like in many other industries IATSE doesn’t have a clear idea for where AI tools will be implemented. Arnold herself is vague in her replies to how AI could be used in the field, repeating emphasis on ethical use and member involvement in AI’s development, but never stating a clear place for implementation. I don’t think this is something to worry about, but I would like to see IATSE be transparent once they find promising areas for implementation and the development of tools begins.
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