Edward Conard

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AI Summary. Measuring AI-driven job losses in the arts is difficult because media firms are reticent about their AI use and the effects are hard to separate from factors like Hollywood consolidation, offshoring of content production, and the shift to social media creators. All subsectors of the digital arts industry are losing jobs while in-person entertainment continues to grow.

Joseph Politano Apricitas Economics
Date Posted:

The US has lost more than 200,000 jobs in “creative” industries – notably TV and movies – since mid 2022. “The clearest evidence of AI’s influence is just that all subsectors of the digital arts industry are losing jobs, while in-person entertainment is still growing at a healthy pace.”

Is it hard to measure AI's job losses in the arts?

Core argument: All subsectors of the digital arts industry are losing jobs while in-person entertainment continues to grow at a healthy pace, which the author presents as perhaps the clearest evidence of AI’s influence.

Proving the exact amount of AI-driven job loss in the arts is extremely difficult. [U.S. creative industries have nevertheless lost more than 200,000 jobs over four years, including roughly 50,000 in the last year. Movie and TV employment alone has fallen by more than 100,000, nearly one-third of the sector, while publishing has lost more than 70,000 jobs]. The effects of AI are hard to disentangle from other factors currently affecting arts businesses, like consolidation in Hollywood, offshoring of content production, or the continued displacement of traditional media providers in favor of social media creators. Yet perhaps the clearest evidence of AI’s influence is just that all subsectors of the digital arts industry are losing jobs, while in-person entertainment is still growing at a healthy pace.

Takeaways by Macro Roundup® AI

  1. All subsectors of the digital arts industry are losing jobs while in-person entertainment continues to grow at a healthy pace, which the author presents as perhaps the clearest evidence of AI’s influence.
  2. Media firms disclose little about their AI use, both to avoid public backlash and to preserve the legal basis for their copyrights, leaving the exact amount of AI-driven job loss in the arts extremely difficult to prove.
  3. AI’s effects on arts businesses are hard to disentangle from consolidation in Hollywood, offshoring of content production, and the displacement of traditional media providers by social media creators.

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