Visual Effects Workforce Isn’t Feeling AI Pinch Yet
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Despite the dramatic proclamations from such Hollywood luminaries as Ben Affleck and Jeffrey Katzenberg about AI transforming the visual effects and animation industries, the data tells a more measured story.
While AI promises to revolutionize the notoriously expensive and labor-intensive VFX process, its actual impact on production — particularly for high-end feature films and premium television — appears to be much more incremental.
Our analysis of findings collected for the Visual Effects World Atlas reveals surprising stability among the largest VFX studios. Employment at the 10 biggest studios peaked in April 2023, just before the WGA strike, and has since declined by only 9%.
However, this figure masks deeper turbulence among smaller studios navigating an increasingly unpredictable market. The footprint of the larger VFX studios tells an equally compelling story. Tax incentives and labor costs have shaped the global VFX industry, with London and Vancouver emerging as the largest Western hubs, each supporting roughly 3,000 professionals across the 10 most sizable companies.
The impact of AI is likely to be felt most strongly in India, home to over 90% of the artists that handle routine VFX tasks, including rotoscoping and clean-up work — precisely the kind of procedural work that AI is best positioned to automate to a large degree.
Rather than witnessing an abrupt technological upheaval in visual effects and animation, we’re seeing a continuation of established trends: the global migration of VFX work chasing tax incentives and cost efficiencies, all against the backdrop of an industry still finding its footing after the 2023 strikes and subsequent slowdown in content production.
While today’s AI tools are making a splash in commercials and short-form content, they remain far from ready to take over Hollywood's most demanding VFX work — much as autonomous vehicles, despite their promise, aren’t yet ready to handle your school run without you.
Joseph Bell is a visual effects industry leader and consultant specializing in strategy, mergers and acquisitions. As the creator of the Visual Effects World Atlas, he offers analysis and insights that reach VFX, animation and gaming professionals in more than 90 countries.
