\n\tBut don\u2019t blame generative AI for the devastating recent shrinkage in California\u2019s creative workforce, says the latest report from the L.A.-based Otis College of Art and Design, which produces research annually encompassing the state\u2019s film, fashion, gaming, media, advertising, arts and architecture industries.<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cThe pattern of job loss in terms of the types of jobs that are being lost and when they\u2019re being lost does not support the fact that there\u2019s been this displacement of workers by AI,\u201d says the co-author of this year\u2019s research Patrick Adler, a founding partner of Westwood Economics and Planning Consultants. \u201cWhat we do find is that AI has, in the creative economy, dramatically changed how work is being done.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tThe Hollywood Reporter viewed the 2026 report, titled \u201cCreative Disruption: AI and California\u2019s Creative Economy: 2022\u20132025,\u201d before its release on April 7. The research was developed by Otis College of Art and Design in partnership with Westwood Economics and Planning Consultants. In addition to Adler, Taner Osman co-authored the report, which used public data to produce quantitative analyses and interviews with creative professionals to produce qualitative assessments.<\/p>\n
\n\tBetween 2022 and 2025, California\u2019s creative economy lost 14 percent of its jobs, or 114,000 roles. According to the report those losses were concentrated in two sectors in particular: film, television and sound (which saw a nearly 30 percent decline in jobs in that time period) and in traditional media (with a nearly 34 percent decline).<\/p>\n
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\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tCourtesy of Otis College of Art and Design<\/p>\n
\n\tBut, the authors note, the jobs most exposed to AI in the state\u2019s creative economy \u2014 those of writers, software developers and artists \u2014 have been growing in number rather than shrinking. Job postings for these occupations have been up as well. <\/p>\n
\n\tRather than AI, \u201cthe answer [for this job loss] lies in a combination of cost-driven displacement of lower-paying roles and structural changes within creative sectors that have hit California harder than the rest of the nation,\u201d says the report. While people in lower-paying occupations have left California due primarily to the high cost of living, the state has also been hit hard by budget cuts that followed the \u201cPeak TV\u201d era in Hollywood.<\/p>\n
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\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tCourtesy of Otis College of Art and Design<\/p>\n
\n\tThe good news for Hollywood workers is that so far generative AI use in creative industries appears to be replacing specific tasks instead of staffers. After conducting interviews with workers in California\u2019s creative industries, the authors report that \u201cNo single respondent described AI as having replaced an entire role or workflow.\u201d They add, \u201cWhere AI is used, it is deployed for well-defined activities where the output is verifiable, time savings are clear, and the quality of output meets expectations.\u201d <\/p>\n
\n\tOne example used in the report is that of postproduction in film and TV, where AI can accomplish rotoscoping or wire removal but struggles with creative tasks. Moreover, checking AI outputs is creating additional work for humans. One VFX company owner quoted in the report describes the use of AI on a major television production as \u201cThey have 15 artists that are sitting at workstations fixing the AI\u2026 When you multiply the rate of the artists by 15 and put that against the cost of the work you\u2019re doing, it negates any savings that AI is giving you.\u201d<\/p>\n
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\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tCourtesy of Otis College of Art and Design<\/p>\n
\n\tThe report also argues that creative workers have significant agency in determining how much generative AI is used in their fields. While they might follow guidance or rules set by supervisors, the workers are usually the ones using the AI directly. \u201cA worker who believes in the technology will iterate patiently; a skeptical one may conclude that AI is not yet able to perform a particular task. Both views were present among interviewees,\u201d the authors write. The authors find that many workers were concerned about the ethics of using AI, while some even hid their use of AI, fearing it might brand them as expendable.<\/p>\n
\n\tWhile the research finds that AI is not displacing creative economy workers in the state, it argues that the technology is already changing the nature of creative work. Interviewees said the tech was raising productivity expectations, that managers were investing in AI tools rather than human collaborators and that they were facing pressure to produce lower-quality work. <\/p>\n
\n\tOne motion creative director quoted in the report recalls one illustrative moment they experienced at work: \u201cThe creative director said, \u2018At a certain point, you just have to say it\u2019s good enough,\u2019 which I think is the biggest danger of AI. We lower our standards.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tThe authors recommend that creative organizations respond to this rank-and-file skepticism and uncertainty around AI by not rushing the implementation of AI tools and by fighting the stigma that their staffers have when it comes to using the technology by implementing policies such as firing freezes. The authors explain, \u201cWorkers who know they will not be adopting themselves out of a job will experiment more openly, share insights more freely, and invest genuine effort into making AI tools work.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tIn other words, says Adler, \u201dThere\u2019s pretty good evidence that we\u2019re uncovering that AI adoption would be a lot faster, a lot deeper if creative workers had more trust in it.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Industry insiders know the story all too well. Over the last few years, as Hollywood restructured to meet…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":568946,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[45],"tags":[182,181,507,1929,74],"class_list":["post-568945","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-artificial-intelligence","tag-ai","tag-artificial-intelligence","tag-artificialintelligence","tag-labor","tag-technology"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/568945","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=568945"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/568945\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/568946"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=568945"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=568945"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=568945"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}