Will AI replace Special Effects Artists and Animators?
AI reaches a large part of this job’s work.
49/100
High exposure
More exposed to AI than 79% of US workers.
- AI already used in
- 29% of the work
- As AI tools mature: up to
- 94% of the work
What the job involves
Create special effects or animations using film, video, computers, or other electronic tools and media for use in products, such as computer games, movies, music videos, and commercials.
Where AI reaches the work
The job’s main tasks, heaviest first, by how far AI reaches them.
Already happening(4)
- Design complex graphics and animation, using independent judgment, creativity, and computer equipment.
- Script, plan, and create animated narrative sequences under tight deadlines, using computer software and hand drawing techniques.
- Develop briefings, brochures, multimedia presentations, web pages, promotional products, technical illustrations, and computer artwork for use in products, technical manuals, literature, newsletters, and slide shows.
- Use models to simulate the behavior of animated objects in the finished sequence.
Within reach(8)
- Create basic designs, drawings, and illustrations for product labels, cartons, direct mail, or television.
- Participate in design and production of multimedia campaigns, handling budgeting and scheduling, and assisting with such responsibilities as production coordination, background design, and progress tracking.
- Create two-dimensional and three-dimensional images depicting objects in motion or illustrating a process, using computer animation or modeling programs.
- Apply story development, directing, cinematography, and editing to animation to create storyboards that show the flow of the animation and map out key scenes and characters.
- Make objects or characters appear lifelike by manipulating light, color, texture, shadow, and transparency, or manipulating static images to give the illusion of motion.
and 3 more
Out of reach(1)
- Assemble, typeset, scan, and produce digital camera-ready art or film negatives and printer's proofs.
Also called
Animator · Multimedia Specialist · Multimedia Artist · 3D Animator (Three-Dimensional Animator) · Digital Artist · 3D Animator · Computer Artist · Computer Graphics Illustrator
Related jobs
- Graphic Designers39/100
- Film and Video Editors47/100
- Art Directors45/100
- Producers and Directors49/100
- Video Game Designers58/100
What these numbers mean
The score is the share of this job’s work, weighted by how important and frequent each task is, that AI could do in half the time: tasks an AI model could do alone count in full, tasks that need software built on AI count half.
“AI already used” is the share of the work in tasks where people are recorded using AI today. “As AI tools mature” counts every task AI could halve, with or without extra software.
The percentile compares the score with every job’s, weighted by how many people in the US do each one. Exposure means AI could change how the work is done, not that the job goes away. These are estimates for the typical job, not predictions.
Sources
- O*NET 31.0 Database, U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration
- GPTs are GPTs: Labor market impact potential of LLMs (task labels), Eloundou, Manning, Mishkin & Rock (2023), OpenAI and University of Pennsylvania
- Anthropic Economic Index: labor market impacts (task penetration), Anthropic
- Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025 (national and metropolitan areas), U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics