Freelance illustrator Amber Yu used to make 3,000 to 7,000 yuan ($430 to $1,000) for every video game poster she drew. Making the promotional posters, published on social media to attract players and introduce new features, was skill-intensive and time-consuming. Once, she spent an entire week completing one illustration of a woman dressed in traditional Chinese attire performing a lion dance — first making a sketch on Adobe Photoshop, then carefully refining the outlines and adding colors.

But since February, these job opportunities have vanished, Yu told Rest of World. Gaming companies, equipped with AI image generators, can create a similar illustration in seconds. Yu said they now simply offer to commission her for small fixes, like tweaking the lighting and skewed body parts, for a tenth of her original rate.

Recent breakthroughs in AI image generation, with the release of programs such as DALL-E 2, Midjourney, and Stable Diffusion in 2022, have enabled users to produce impeccable drawings from text prompts. In the past few months, Chinese video game companies, from tech giants like Tencent to indie game developers, have begun using these programs to design and create video game characters, backdrops, and promotional materials.

The rise of AI art has created widespread anxiety in China’s video game art industry. Artists are crucial to game production, be it for conceptualizing characters or drawing background elements like cityscapes or signs. Given the high quality of AI-produced artwork, many in the industry are wondering how long they will be able to keep their jobs, seven game illustrators told Rest of World. Artists joke that they should switch careers to peddling rice noodles on the street instead, several of the illustrators said.

“AI is developing at a speed way beyond our imagination,” Xu Yingying, illustrator at an independent game art studio in Chongqing, told Rest of World. Xu’s studio produces designs for major game developers in China. Five of the studio’s 15 illustrators who specialize in character design were laid off this year, and Xu believes the adoption of AI image generators was partly to blame. “Two people could potentially do the work that used to be done by 10,” she said.

Chinese tech giants, such as Tencent and NetEase, that own large video-game publishing divisions, have been researching how to cut game development costs with artificial intelligence for years. NetEase’s Naraka: Bladepoint, an action-adventure battle royale game, rolled out a temporary feature in March that allowed players to create new “skins” for avatars using the company’s in-house AI program. Following a criminal investigation against a prominent voice actor, allegedly because of a business dispute, gaming companies miHoYo and NetEase used AI to generate the voices of his characters.

A spokesperson at NetEase told Rest of World the company had applied AI-based technologies to assist game animation, and the models are trained using its proprietary or licensed resources. “Our goal has been to develop better tools to enable our talented teams of art designers and illustrators to create assets faster or more efficiently during the game development process,” the spokesperson said. Tencent and miHoYo did not respond to requests for comments.

AI-generated art was so skilled that some illustrators talked about giving up drawing altogether. “Our way of making a living is suddenly destroyed,” said a game artist in Guangdong, speaking on condition of anonymity for fear of being identified by her employer, to Rest of World. Yu, the freelance illustrator, said it was “despicable” that algorithms — trained on vast datasets that took humans decades to produce — were on the verge of replacing the artists themselves. Still, Yu plans to train AI programs with her own drawings to improve her productivity. “If I’m a top-notch artist, I might be able to boycott [them]. But I have to eat.”

Illustrators say employers are encouraging them to use AI image generators to boost their productivity. At Xu’s studio, for example, AI generators create clothes and accessories from human-illustrated character sketches. Game designers also use AI programs to draw treasure chests and gold coins, a Shanghai-based illustrator told Rest of World.

The Guangdong-based game artist, who works at a leading gaming company, said that previously, employees could draw a scene or a character in a day; now, with the help of AI, they could make 40 a day for their bosses to choose from. “I wish I could just shoot down these programs,” the artist told Rest of World, after getting off work late one night. She said fear of impending layoffs had made her colleagues more competitive; many stayed at work late, working longer hours to try to produce more. “[AI] made us more productive but also more exhausted,” she said.

https://restofworld.org/2023/ai-image-china...o-game-layoffs/

no need human workers

No need humans soon.

so harga video game and anime will drop?

AI-created video games for AI robots to play. Not for human play one

yeayyyy

lately these AI video pop up on my yt suggestions..


its true... kesian graphic designers

Pandai Balenciaga repair their reputation after pedo scandal.

In the end, is human destroy human.

> Developed AI to increased productivity.
> Company want to decrease development cost.
> Company replaced some human tasks to AI.

so easy

boss just want low salary robot workers

yup

I love AI

Kesian artists lost to computer in terms of creativity

their games are soulless to begin with anyway

nothing of value was lost

AI not a job killer (ChatGPT, 2023).

in the future you can create your anime, ask chatgpt to write a script and another app to do the drawing and another app to render. pay for the services. No need for anyone. can do your own youtube channel automated too.
future scam will also be better, since malaysia has alot of personal info leak, can scam using chatgpt

This post has been edited by Avex: Apr 13 2023, 03:04 PM

Many years ago already before mco, people predicted that the only jobs in the future for humans will be service jobs or humans servicing other humans. That also is if they prefer human touch rather than robot which admittedly is still lacking the fine motor skill dexterity of human hands. There’s also entertainers like athletes in human restricted activities like sports. But it will be very niche.

Truly creative types will still have a job but their niche is getting narrowed and the bar for what is considered creative is getting bigger with every advancement in generative AI.

No, price maintain. Game studio earns higher profit.

It's like company successfully cuts cost, do they reduce the finished good price?

Actually, she could just move to 3d texture painting with her skillset. It's related to games as well. Also, companies requesting less heavy task also means she'd have more time on her hands. Probably should decide on her own rate as well instead of just accepting what's offered. Part of business transaction is negotiation after all.

AI DEGENerated Art and P

Its kinda funny all this artist's mind is so skewed ...... prob because under a position so comfortable suddenly a threat come and all went on panic berserk mode.

From young those lucky enough to enter art college think once graduate will have company hire etc. While those whom parents force them to be doctor, lawyer , engineer can only dream of one day able to pursue art. Prob after retire. The lowest bottom of the barrel are those that do not have the capability to be any of what their parents want and too poor or forced to not be able to study art. In many case artist whom is able to make good art are exceptionally "lansi" first is because they know they can make something desirable and you can't. While 2nd if they are in a good mood they will litter some bread crumbs or hint on how to draw, but assured to always bait you in begging mode never intent to lift you up in anyway.

Technology came and all of a sudden all this artist start to call AI is "stealing" suggesting what others are generating are illegal but not in the books of actual law. They become poisonous demons whom would swipe trough the internet, make sure to hunt down people who would play with the program and out right just go bat shit crazy about it. Then they build up "Sin Ka Lan" story about the horror of AI and how they became homeless with soob story of how industry tycoon "diu" kau them. Even go as far as saying wanna jump from 14th floor. Then they become delusional, start attacking fellow artist simply because their art look "similar" to AI art. Self implode and just go around spreading doom and gloom all over the internet. If every evolution also got such convulsive behaviour you could imagine when car was invented you have "Sakai" with guns and horse running around shooting anyone driving a car.

If anything AI would have help you even more then before, not just on the technical side ... for a very simple reason and fact, cause right now AI has level the playing field, way more for indie groups then the big fat lazy money sucking tycoon. With the help of AI, indie or mid size company start to focus more on producing quality over non optional. That means in turn the market is much more saturated, big company can no longer abuse their concept of maximum profit because now you have real competitors that can make games at equal level that provide much more value to the public as a consumer. With that big company have to scrap stupid shit like NFT, crypto , meta, loot box .... all those sort of bullshit before they fail to retain their audience. And the funny thing is .... guess what .... big company will try to dry up the well by hiring and retaining as much good artist as possible for specific style while artist now have a choice to venture out of their comfort zone and seek better opportunity.

I've been in the freelance field for visual creative for the past decade and I can tell you for sure AI art is more of a self expression tools for non artist and maybe good for visual reference, but the tech is FAR from being able to factory cake shit out and shorten a 3 year development cycle into 1 month to make record breaking games. Nor are they causing client whom is willing to pay a few hundred bucks in the past to suddenly relying on AI and risk scratching their own brand emphasizing on quality. Gutter job that is $5 below gig was never on their pick up list at all before this, as they aren't willing to price their art that low.

If you hate AI so much and wanna do something about it ..... start teaching the less privilege people. Lift them up, you don't have to teach them all you know, you just need to teach them enough to understand what does it mean, how does it feel to pick up a digital / traditional pen and build something that flows trough their minds, you can charge them for advance technique later. Once people are able to produce decent work, naturally they will dove into spiritual self creation and rather enjoy the spiritual experience they bring from those brush strokes that AI cannot replace. From there they slowly build their own identity and would join the ranks of finally being able to express themselves without AI replacing those process, reducing AI's job to more of a visual suggestion rather then full blown 1 button factory as claim by those artist.

I've seen a lot of "artist" lansi people like they think just because they can draw they are gifted natural selection by gods. Hell even experienced a few times from idol I adorn getting the cold shoulder ..... yet I knew nothing is personal, as a peasant I constantly face defenestration, its just how much you are willing to sacrifice for art to be meaningful. I found ways to support my hobby, not the other way around. Which is why, AI doesn't bother me in the slightest bit.

BR1M for life UBI

Dance animation
https://www.reddit.com/r/StableDiffusion/co...g_to_animation/

1 person can run whole factory

Just sit and monitor all the robot

Everyone can become factory owner

This post has been edited by Raddus: Apr 13 2023, 05:12 PM

PRC very fast at adopting new tech. So fast already make their own computer artist obsolete.

The author of this passage reflects on the attitudes of artists towards AI-generated art. They argue that many artists feel threatened by AI and see it as stealing their work. However, the author believes that AI can actually help level the playing field in the industry and allow for more competition and quality production. They also suggest that rather than attacking AI, artists should focus on lifting up and teaching those who are less privileged and may not have the opportunity to pursue art education. The author concludes by stating that they do not feel threatened by AI and have found ways to support their hobby regardless.

AI is really scary. Midjourney outputs are damn good.

This post has been edited by un.deux.trois: Apr 13 2023, 05:27 PM

This is only utopia fantasy, will never happen. The top richfag will always dominate the poor with their wealth, and now with the AI tech and robotic which poorfag can never afford.

you are fired.

Chinese marketing agency to replace third-party copywriters and designers with ChatGPT-like technology

BlueFocus, which ranked 11th among global public relations agencies in 2022 and first among its Chinese peers, has bet big on AI since securing Microsoft as a client

The agency has also engaged with Chinese ChatGPT alternatives, including Baidu’s Ernie Bot, for use in virtual character building and other digital marketing work
https://www.scmp.com/tech/tech-trends/artic...tgpt-technology

most likely they wont lose their job, just they no longer have the same value. I will use AI to keep generate until something close to my liking then hire ppl to alter.

turd polisher

You never been to china, there are a sea of people in every position including hers. She don’t accept the offered rate, 10 other will. And she eats grass.

if got any child said they want to take art... can directly disown them

In CCP, the news already being read by non human that looks real. Nobody can even tell the difference. All the newsreaders gonna be fired if they haven't yet.

Wumaos haven't digested this yet I think.

https://petapixel.com/2023/03/17/chinese-ai...65-days-a-year/

once ai able to render 3d model, with detail animation, rip to all game artist

Um, based on that video, still can tell. Voice also can tell it’s AI

They've also adopted the free market. By that logic, highly skilled and premium rate worker should not exist but they do and thriving. China is not all cheap, it just depends what you're willing to pay.

Wumaos in /k also A.I. I think. Always open thread then no reply.

The artist is still needed. If no artist fix the AI art, then it's useless.

Yes, she is easily replaceable with someone else that is willing to work for less but that has always been true. Companies have been paying with exposure for a long time already.

No this just allows greedy companies to pad their margins.