AI is negatively reshaping the creative industry
In the old days, when you went to watch a cartoon movie, every frame had to be hand-drawn. Every single action that a character took was hand-drawn by an artist and required at least six to 12 months to create. With technology advancing, whether it be drawing tablets or 3D modeling software, cartoons, animations, movies, and overall art have evolved, becoming much easier to create.
Nowadays, you may not even know it when you are watching fully AI-made shows and movies on TikTok. Art can be made with a simple AI-generated image request. Although AI doesn’t usually make “good” art or shows, with AI growing in popularity, it is still a concern that it will take away jobs from those who work in the creative industry.
Workers in the creative industry have historically been poorly treated. For example, the Animation Guild’s website says that early animators under Walt Disney were promised higher wages for movies such as “Snow White,” but were never actually given them. “Disney artists considered themselves the patricians of the industry, under Walt’s benevolent rule,” the website states.
The website also indicates that these events led to the Disney Strike of 1941, where workers under Walt Disney protested for him to allow and recognize the union they wanted to form. “Fearing the loss of government contracts and the recall of bank loans, Disney signed and has been a union shop ever since,” the Animation Guild’s website states.
This is just one example from the past of creatives being treated unfairly, but even in the present day, some are still being treated unfairly. For example, according to Joshua Fox’s article titled “Studio MAPPA’s Long Story of Controversies Overshadows its Success,” the anime studio is very well-known for the mistreatment of its animators.
Fox writes, “Adding to the accusations that Studio MAPPA doesn’t pay its animators a fair wage. Animator Ippei Ichii alleged that MAPPA was allowing Netflix to pay only the bare minimum amount of money per cut when MAPPA was working on Yasuke, and the claims of low pay have been substantiated by several animators repeatedly.”
Fox’s article also talks about how animators in the studio who worked on the show “Jujutsu Kaisen” were so overworked that many had meltdowns on X (previously Twitter). “They complained about being overworked to the point of requesting a delay, only to be denied one by the production committee,” he writes in his article.
All of this goes to show that creatives in the industry from many different areas aren’t already treated well. With AI’s surge in popularity, the issue is even worse. It has already been shown through the many AI mini movies made on TikTok that are all too common. Although they are ever more obvious because of their terrible animation and dialogue, these are just the early days of the use of AI in the creative industry.
Think about it: in the beginning of animation, back when movies and TV shows were made in black and white, people wouldn’t have ever even dreamt of animation being able to be made with a simple text typed into a generative AI site. There are many people who aren’t put into a sense of urgency about AI replacing people’s jobs.
To those people, I would say that they should definitely at least be aware that it is possible for AI to take away these jobs permanently. In the context of the creative industry, we have already seen strides in AI use. Less than a few months weeks ago, Amazon’s MGM Studios announced that they will be making three animated kids’ shows that will be AI-assisted.
As of now, one of the shows got cut from the program, but that still leaves two that will come out. This shows that nothing is out of conversation when it comes to AI in the creative industry. While many believe that AI is overall good since it can increase productivity in work, taking AI to the next level can mean replacing jobs altogether.
AI is also so accessible that, with the technology improving, the incentive for commissioning art, employing animators, actors, etcetera, may become obsolete. Although I don’t believe we are nearly at the point that movies can fully be made with AI actors or artists will never be able to make money, the road definitely looks like it’s leading to it.
AI art and interference with the creative industry overall take away from human creativity. People will be less incentivized to ask an artist or draw something themselves if they can just tell ChatGPT to make it for them in a matter of seconds.
Although I know that everyone doesn’t have the power to stop companies from producing AI-assisted shows, art, or movies, people can still do something about it. For example, purposefully not supporting AI-assisted projects. If your friend invites you to go see a movie that uses AI, don’t go and encourage them not to go, either.
The creative industry and its employees all make such a big impact on everyone’s lives, whether we like to admit it or not. Every movie, animation, YouTube video, TV show, and so much more was made by a creative person. All of these people deserve to make money the same way everyone else who works a job does.
