Artists panic because of unemployment: Once earned $1,000 for 1 advertising image, now only get paid $10 to fix products created by AI
Rest of World newspaper said artist Amber Yu once earned 3,000-7,000 Yuan, equivalent to 430-1,000 USD for each video game advertising illustration she drew.
This artist’s task is to draw pictures, create advertising posters, and post them on social networks to attract players and introduce new features.
But since February 2023, these types of jobs have completely disappeared when with artificial intelligence (AI) technology, video game companies can create illustrations in just a few seconds.
Now Ms. Yu is only assigned small editing tasks such as lighting or misaligned body parts after the AI completes the drawing, at a price that is only 1/10 of the previous price.
Ms. Yu’s case is not unique as apps like DALL-E 2, Midjourney and Stable Diffusion launched in 2022 have allowed companies to create near-perfect photos with just descriptions through
In the past few months, video game companies from giants like Tencent to independent developers have used AI to create characters, backgrounds or promotional materials instead of traditional old human resources.
The inevitable consequence is that the rise of AI has made many artists and game designers extremely worried.
Losing the `rice bowl` and despicable algorithms
“AI is developing at a speed beyond our imagination,” artist Xu Yingying at a video game studio in Chongqing lamented to Rest of World.
Xu’s studio specializes in designing for video games in China, but since the beginning of the year, they have had to fire 5/15 of their artists and the main reason is because of AI.
“With AI, it only takes 2 people to do the work of 10 artists,” Ms. Xu lamented.
Meanwhile, large game development corporations such as Tencet or NetEase are researching to lay off human resources and save costs thanks to AI.
According to Rest of World, this fall from grace along with the possibility of losing their `rice bowl` has made many artists so disappointed that they completely give up painting.
“Our livelihood was suddenly destroyed,” an anonymous artist told Rest of World.
“It’s despicable that algorithms are gradually replacing artists,” Ms. Yu agreed.
Even so, Ms. Yu still has to learn how to use AI technologies to perfect her design abilities.
“If I were a famous artist, I would probably boycott this technology, but I also need to make a living,” Ms. Yu choked up.
Compete for survival
More and more businesses are now encouraging artists to use AI to improve their work and increase productivity.
A game artist in Guangdong told Rest of World that it would normally take them a day to draw a scene or a character, but now with the help of AI, employees can create up to 40 scenes for bosses.
However, this causes competitive pressure to increase because artists are afraid of being fired when productivity suddenly increases.
“I wish these AI programs could be abolished.
The gaming industry in China had a freezing period in 2021 when the government froze the licenses of many game titles to carry out a video game addiction campaign for teenagers.
Despite recent government easing, according to Hangzhou-based gaming recruiter Leo Li, job vacancies for video game artists are still down 70% compared to last year.
“Bosses think that with AI, they probably don’t need as many painters as before,” Mr. Li said.
“Zombie” of art
The story of AI is still a highly controversial issue in the art industry.
Meanwhile, user opinions are different.
Faced with this situation, many game development companies are also quite cautious, limiting the praise of new technology to avoid getting entangled in controversies.
Meanwhile, Associate Professor Jeffrey Ding of George Washington University, who specializes in AI research in China, said that this new technology can eliminate many occupations, especially office jobs, but also create new jobs.
`The truth is that AI will replace many jobs, not just the artist profession, even the profession of lawyer or writing is at risk of disappearing,` Mr. Ding warned.
Currently, the Chinese government is taking steps to sanction this new technology.
In January 2023, China’s Internet watchdog issued new regulations requiring AI-generated content to be labeled to avoid confusing the public.
By April 2023, a new draft law was issued requiring content created by AI to respect copyright, although it did not specify the details.
Regardless, independent game developer Xiao Di predicts that the worries of artists losing their jobs because of AI will quickly spread to other professions.
“Any technological revolution will leave behind vulnerable victims.
*Source: Rest of World
