AI and its future in Art and Design
The Question: Is AI going to take jobs in the Art and Design world? Simple answer to that is, yes. Sadly as it is to say with the advancement in Generative AI tools that Art and Design teams will shrink. The problem is that jobs in this field were already being taken from people left and right prior to generative art. Many Hollywood studios were already outsourcing the very complex work to off shore studios for cheaper labor already which in result, resulted in some of the biggest lay offs in the film industry. In 2013, Rhythm & Hues Studios impressed everyone with its Oscar win for Best Visual Effects for "Life of Pi," only to end up in a financial hellhole worthy of its own screenplay. Despite all of it’s success, the studio soon found itself filling for bankruptcy, proving that even in the world of movie magic, financial harmony can be as elusive as a well-timed drumbeat. Hell I even had a professor at Art School who helped with the muscle simulation on the tiger, and he got laid off immediately after the bankruptcy.
This leads me to believe a few things. Firstly that the current state of the industry weather that is in Film, Animation, or Games is at its lowest since the golden era of the 2000’s to about mid-2010s. This was because it was the first showcase of that overconsumption in the manor that we have been forced to consume especially in the last 6-8 years is counterproductive for the Art and Design world. Mainly because it doesn’t actually solve any real world problems it just further pushes the narrative of “CONSUME CONSUME CONSUME” . Now you may ask where does AI lean into this point? Now that Generative art is on the rise and AI toolsets are getting better and better everyday and as it gets easier, and easier, for just anybody to type a prompt and be able to create the “Film of Their Dreams” or their “Dream book cover” this will increase the amount of Art and Design we see but not only that it will make AI fatigue worse and worse on people. It will definitely increase the amount of shitty films on Netflix or Hulu by a hundred fold.
Another point that I have recently thought while pacing back and forth wondering if generative AI is going to take my job, something clicked, what about all the companies already building 3D Animation tools with AI? I mean 10 years ago when I was 16 learning Cinema4d on my shit laptop every part of the animation process was so monotonous or expensive to make easier. This was even before GPU based rendering, path-tracing, or ray-tracing so you could imagine how long everything took for me to make as a 16 year old learning advanced 3D software alone, solely by the manual or terrible YouTube videos. But with tools like Move A.I on the rise, expensive and tedious task like Motion Capture can now be done all from my phone. So, with seeing some of the tools in development it makes me incredibly optimistic for what true creatives in the 3D world will be able to create as companies that make our favorite 3D software start implementing tools that help an Individual do the job of 15-30 different artist, all by themselves.
To summarize; It is fair for one to think that Artist and Designers will be fully replaced by AI which just isn’t the case at all. It will just like the Fine Art world be a much more rare and unique skill which will increase its value over time. When the first camera was invented everybody thought it was the death of Fine Arts but that just was not the case. More than ever going forward the World will need that Human Touch, although corny in nature, its oddly true. More than ever we need meaningful Art and Design in our world, thus that our future isn’t destined to be so bleak. I hope that truly creative, intelligent, and caring people are the focus of the future, not just brands or the faces behind them, but Art and Design that transcends profits and margins.
"Throughout history, it has been the inaction of those who could have acted, the indifference of those who should have known better, the silence of the voice of justice when it mattered most, that has made it possible for evil to triumph." - Hallie Selassie Emperor of Ethiopia
“That until the philosophy which holds one race superior and another inferior is finally and permanently discredited and abandoned: That until there are no longer first-class and second class citizens of any nation; That until the color of a man's skin is of no more significance than the color of his eyes; That until the basic human rights are equally guaranteed to all without regard to race; That until that day, the dream of lasting peace and world citizenship and the rule of international morality will remain but a fleeting illusion, to be pursued but never attained” - Hallie Selassie Emperor of Ethiopia
