Q
How do you think AI is influencing the animation roles?
A
A bit like when I started, there was a shift. Eventually the animation industry will change. AI is not quite there, but I think if you work on small things like digital content, such as for YouTube, you’ll have lower cost. Take Cocomelon and suchlike, the price per minute is much lower than it used to be, for example. So it hasn’t changed yet, but it will.
My advice for new people is to have an understanding how to use AI, because I think when you say, oh, I can do this, then companies will find you interesting, because, like it or not, AI is not going away. It might not be the passion and why you came into animation in the first place, but ignoring it, especially starting out, like, for example, I did clean-up, but I didn’t get experience, so there was not really a place for me when things changed. If I had studied 3-D, even without practical experience, there would have been opportunities for me because that was the direction the industry was moving.
Q
Things change back though over time?
A
Drawn animation is quite niche now. A bit like stop-motion. Technology has come a long way, so I think it would be easier to swap from hand-drawn animation to 2-D or 3-D than it was back then, because then IT was quite clunky.
Q
That’s what we’re saying AI is now, a bit clunky, but in future it won’t be.
A
Like in 1994 when I saw internet for the first time it was hard to imagine how it would be, taking over our lives, and I think it will be the same with AI, but this will happen faster.
Q
It’s accelerating.
A
Even since talking about AI in 2021-2022, it’s out there now in your face. So I think there’s a chance in the industry I’ve been in, the bigger shows, that if they use AI, there’ll be, instead of animators, maybe AI will be doing animation with supervisors correcting it; it’s a little bit sad.
Q
It may completely change your day to day…
A
It will, because then you’re not dealing with animators. There’re already companies that’ve got rid of writers, and the script editor will work with AI instead on smaller things. For me it’s sad to lose the creative roles. To lose the donkey-boring admin stuff – that’s so refreshing, but it feels as though the fun bits may disappear a little.
I think if it’s like, come up with story lines for a TV series, then it’s taking away the good bits, the fun bones, right?
You have to find your feet. For example if you’re an editor it’s incorporated and helps you. The same with composers and music. It’s more extra tools. It’s like a toolkit. Jobs get bigger and bigger, and maybe you need less help, so it’s more like taking the assistant’s job.
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