Companies like Disney and Pixar have been notorious for their nostalgic, timeless movies that preach solid morals. They play a very important part in the hearts of many, but due to recent scandals revolving around Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Disney, animation unions are often going on strike.
Animation has always been an impressive human art form. Many jobs came from those who were amazed by the works of Disney’s animators. Sadly, their dreams of becoming an animator, if even achieved, become slowly crushed by Disney’s corporate greed. This is due to the rise of AI and its contributions to the film world. AI creates images and videos that are certainly subpar to human creativity. However, the AI produces them at rapid speed. It can make multiple videos of just a single prompt, and all the Disney higher-ups have to do is pick the best one.
Now, Disney is not at the level of fully replacing animation, but many fear that they are near close. They have been using AI for some small scale animations, theme parks, scripts, posters, and box office predictions. With the ever-growing threat to the animation industry, along with a newly established “Task Force” for the use of AI, many animators are on strike, or unionizing with IATSE (International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees), with a 93% “yes” vote and a 96% turn out. Pixar is guilty of the same uses, as they are a division under Disney, which is frightening for the 1,233 animators that produce animations. While that seems a relatively small number, keep in mind that it takes 40-60 animators per movie, and the number of animators laid off is at 33% and actively increasing. And the ones that don’t get laid off are constantly under a hostile work environment with the growing fear of being replaced by AI, not even mentioning the plagiarism and sexism, reported by ex-animators of Disney.
So what can we do about this? Is all we can do just sit and watch the greed of Disney ruin the jobs of many? Fortunately, no. Multiple movements online exist in support of these animators, the most popular one being “Stand with Animation”, which actively spreads awareness of Disney’s use of AI and the threat to animators, through social media, rallies, and protests. The movement is backed by the IATSE, and is growing by animators, supporters, politicians, and other Hollywood unions. The protests grew in crowds of more than a thousand people, making the recent protests the biggest the industry faced yet.
So next time you watch your favorite Disney movie, remember the people who gave life to every 24 frames a second that you watch, and how their hard work paid off in layoffs, underpayment, and replacement by a computed intelligence that bears no resemblance to the creativity of humans. The Disney you knew is no longer the company that made your childhood with their good-natured films, but a soulless company that throws its devoted animators under the bus, all in pursuit of money into their pockets. Support the Stand by Animation movement, and save the human creativity that we grew to love originally.
