The portal Rest of World shared an article pointing out that a rather particular situation has occurred in China involving artificial intelligence (AI) with the ability to generate illustrations. Because they can do the work of an illustrator in a matter of minutes, AIs do the “heavy lifting” while live illustrators just correct the details.significantly lowering their wages.
«Freelance illustrator Amber Yu used to earn 3,000 to 7,000 yuan ($430 to $1,000) for each video game illustration she drew. Making the promotional banners, which are posted on social media to attract players and introduce new features, requires a lot of skill and time. She once spent an entire week completing an illustration of a woman in traditional Chinese costume dancing the lion dance: she first made a sketch in Adobe Photoshop, then carefully refined the outlines and added colors.».
«But since February, these job opportunities have vanished.dijo Yu a Rest of World. Video game companies, equipped with AI image generators, can create a similar illustration in seconds. Yu says that now simply They offer to commission small fixes, such as touching up lighting and crooked body parts, for a tenth of their original salary.».
«Recent advances in AI imaging, with programs like DALL-E 2, Midjourney, and Stable Diffusion launching in 2022, have enabled users to produce flawless drawings from text cues.. In recent months, Chinese video game companies, from tech giants like Tencent to independent game developers, have begun using these programs to design and create video game characters, backgrounds, and promotional materials.».
«The rise of AI-generated art has caused great concern in the Chinese video game industry. Artists are crucial in video game production, whether it’s conceptualizing characters or drawing background elements like cityscapes or signs. Given the high quality of AI-produced illustrations, many in the industry are wondering how long they will be able to keep their jobs., as explained by video game illustrators to Rest of World. Several of them joke about the possibility of changing their profession and dedicating themselves to selling rice noodles on the street.».
«“Artificial intelligence is developing at a speed that far exceeds our imagination.explains Xu Yingying, an illustrator at an independent studio in Chongqing. Xu’s studio produces designs for major game developers in China. Five of the studio’s fifteen illustrators specializing in character design were laid off this year, and Xu believes the adoption of AI image generators was partly to blame.. “Two people can do the job that ten people used to do,” he says.».
“(Omission) The AI-generated art was so slick that some illustrators talked of abandoning drawing altogether.. “Suddenly our way of making a living has been destroyed,” a Guangdong game illustrator told Rest of World, speaking on condition of anonymity for fear of being identified by her employer.. Yu, a freelance illustrator, called it “despicable” that algorithms – fashioned from vast data sets that took humans decades to produce – are about to replace the artists themselves. Still, Yu plans to train AI programs on his own drawings to improve their productivity. “If I’m a top artist, I might boycott them. But I have to eat”».
«Illustrators say that companies encourage them to use AI image generators to increase their productivity. At Xu’s studio, for example, AI generators create clothing and accessories from human-illustrated character sketches. Game designers also use AI programs to draw treasure chests and gold coins, an illustrator from Shanghai explained to Rest of World.».
«The Guangdong game artist, who works at a major game company, said that before, employees could draw a scene or character in a day; now with the help of AI they can make 40 a day for their bosses to choose. “I wish I could end these shows,” the artist told Rest of World, after leaving work late one night. He said that the fear of imminent layoffs had made his colleagues more competitive; many were staying late, working longer hours to try to produce more. “AI has made us more productive, but also more exhausted”».
«The job market in the video game industry was already precarious after China’s government-imposed licensing freeze in 2021 put thousands of game developers out of work. Leo Li, a video game industry recruiter in Hangzhou, told Rest of World that the number of illustrator jobs fell by 70% last year, not just because of regulatory pressures and a slowing economy, but also because of the rise of artificial intelligence. Given the increasing capabilities of AI tools, “bosses may be thinking they don’t need as many employees,” Li said.».
Fuente: Rest of World