# Will AI replace 3d artists? Updated October 2026 Animators score 55 of 100 for AI exposure. The largest share of their task time, 83%, is work AI speeds up while they stay in charge. AI can take over the other 17% outright. - **17%** AI can do it - **83%** AI helps High exposure Higher than 85% of the 923 occupations we scored. ## Task by task We graded 13 tasks, listed here from most to least exposed. AI can do 2 of them today, speeds up 11 and leaves 0 to people. | Task | AI exposure | | --- | --- | | 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. AI drafts copy, layouts and slides; staff review and finalize. | 65% AI can do it | | Create basic designs, drawings, and illustrations for product labels, cartons, direct mail, or television. Image tools draft basic label designs; people check brand fit. | 60% AI can do it | | 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. AI drafts storyboard frames and scene lists; directors make creative choices. | 55% AI helps | | Assemble, typeset, scan, and produce digital camera-ready art or film negatives and printer's proofs. Layout software and AI handle typesetting; people check print proofs. | 55% AI helps | | Design complex graphics and animation, using independent judgment, creativity, and computer equipment. Creative design work where AI speeds iteration but artists lead decisions. | 52% AI helps | [See what AI can take on across a marketing team](https://www.aigentcy.com/ai-for/marketing/) ## How animators compare All occupations (923) Arts, design, entertainment, sports and media (40) **Animators score 55**, marked by the dark line. Each dot is a score, darker where more occupations share it. The short marks show the averages, 37 for all occupations and 44 for arts, design, entertainment, sports and media. ## Pay and outlook in the US Median pay $102,030 a year, May 2025 People employed 19,970 in the US, May 2025 Projected change in jobs \-0.3% from 2024 to 2034 ## Skills to build - Direct storyboard frames and key scene choices for animation - Finish brand-checked label and carton artwork in Adobe Illustrator - Approve simulated motion and tune its timing in Adobe After Effects - Judge lighting, shadow and transparency in final composites - Check print proofs and camera-ready art in Adobe InDesign - Schedule multimedia campaign production and track progress ## Safer roles nearby 5 related occupations with lower scores. - [Video editors49 out of 100](https://www.aigentcy.com/ai-exposure/video-editors/) - [Art directors50 out of 100](https://www.aigentcy.com/ai-exposure/art-directors/) - [Video game designers54 out of 100](https://www.aigentcy.com/ai-exposure/video-game-designers/) - [Music producers45 out of 100](https://www.aigentcy.com/ai-exposure/producers/) - [Photographers43 out of 100](https://www.aigentcy.com/ai-exposure/photographers/) ## Questions about animators and AI Will animators be replaced by AI? Partly. About 5 in 10 working hours go to tasks AI can already do, mostly drafting presentations and brochures and basic label and carton designs. Creative decisions, hand-drawn art, and the final look of rendered motion stay with the animator. Will AI take over animation? AI can already do 17% of the task time in animation and speeds up another 83%. The US has 19,970 animator jobs, with a projected change of -0.3% from 2024 to 2034. Which animator tasks is AI taking over? AI is taking over first drafts of briefings, brochures and multimedia presentations, the highest exposure task at 65. Image tools draft copy, layouts and slides, and staff review and finalize. Basic label, carton and direct mail designs score 60, because image tools draft them and people still check brand fit. Which animator tasks stay human? Scanning real objects into animated models stays with people, with an exposure score of 25, because it needs physical presence and AI only helps with cleanup. Hand-drawn images score 30 since drawing stays human. Physics simulation scores 36, but artists still tune and approve the results. How can animators stay valuable? Keep the creative calls in your hands and check every AI output before it leaves the studio. Write storyboards and key scene lists yourself, then direct AI frame drafts. Judge lighting, shadow and transparency in After Effects before any render is signed off. Tune physics simulations and approve results. Stay responsible for production schedules and progress tracking with clients. ## Related jobs - [Graphic designers61 out of 100](https://www.aigentcy.com/ai-exposure/graphic-designers/) - [UX designers66 out of 100](https://www.aigentcy.com/ai-exposure/ux-designers/) - [Artists45 out of 100](https://www.aigentcy.com/ai-exposure/artists/) - [Audio visual technicians45 out of 100](https://www.aigentcy.com/ai-exposure/audio-visual-technicians/) ## Next steps for animators - ### Check your job Your job title is a rough guide. Your actual tasks decide your score. Paste your job description or CV and see which of your tasks AI can do. [Check your job](https://www.aigentcy.com/tools/ai-exposure-checker/) [Check your CV](https://www.aigentcy.com/tools/cv-checker/) ### Check which roles in your team AI can take on We map your team's tasks, show what AI can do today and build the automations that pay back first. [Book an AI audit](https://www.aigentcy.com/audit/) ## Related topics - [**Jobs AI can't replace**Cement masons score lowest, at 8.](https://www.aigentcy.com/ai-exposure/jobs-ai-cant-replace/) - [**Jobs most at risk from AI**Proofreaders score highest, at 76.](https://www.aigentcy.com/ai-exposure/jobs-most-exposed-to-ai/) - [**High-paying jobs with low AI exposure**Radiologists earn a median $420,860 and score 46.](https://www.aigentcy.com/ai-exposure/high-paying-jobs-low-ai-exposure/) - [**Entry-level jobs with low AI exposure**Cement masons need little prior training and score 8.](https://www.aigentcy.com/ai-exposure/entry-level-jobs-low-ai-exposure/) - [**Jobs AI speeds up the most**For natural sciences managers, AI speeds up 96% of task time.](https://www.aigentcy.com/ai-exposure/jobs-ai-speeds-up/) - [**AI and jobs in Malta**15 iGaming roles graded task by task.](https://www.aigentcy.com/ai-exposure/malta/) - [**Skills that keep work human**The skills to build in the jobs AI changes least.](https://www.aigentcy.com/ai-exposure/skills/) - [**Jobs A to Z**Every job we publish, by first letter.](https://www.aigentcy.com/ai-exposure/jobs/) - [**AI exposure by industry**Average scores for 22 occupation groups.](https://www.aigentcy.com/ai-exposure/industries/) - [**Write a CV screening software can read**How applicant tracking systems read a CV, and what to change.](https://www.aigentcy.com/ai-exposure/cv-screening-guide/) - [**AI for businesses**The tasks to automate first in each team and industry.](https://www.aigentcy.com/ai-for/) - [**How we score AI exposure**The grading, the weights and every source.](https://www.aigentcy.com/ai-exposure/methodology/) Occupation data from the O\*NET 30.3 Database by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA), used under [CC BY 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) and modified by Aigentcy. O\*NET® is a trademark of USDOL/ETA. Wage, employment and projection data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. EU occupation names from ESCO, European Commission. AI usage signals from the Anthropic Economic Index (CC BY) and Microsoft Research (CC BY 4.0). [Methodology and sources](https://www.aigentcy.com/ai-exposure/methodology/). Scores © Aigentcy. Quote them with a link to the page.