"They are in Trouble!" 1900 Workers Fired Due to AI.

Impact and this is post AGI economics where we take a look at all of the industries and how the economy, the job market and how AI is impacting the workforce and this industry. If you work in this industry, you're definitely going to see probably one of the largest impacts of any industry industry I'm talking about is the video game industry. Wired did an investigation where they revealed that major players like Activision Blizzard have recently laid off scores of workers and are basically replacing them with generative AI. And the research and data and studies that have been done around this show us that this is not looking well for the future of people in this industry and some adjacent ones. So it basically says here that the people, video games and the people who make them up are in Trouble. An estimated 10,500 people in the industry were laid off in 2023 alone. The layoffs in the nearly $200 billion sector have only gotten worse, with studios axing what is believed to be 11,000 more and count. And Microsoft, home of the Xbox and parent company to several studios including Activision Blizzard, shut down Tango, Gameworks and AlphaDog Games in May. All while generative AI systems built by OpenAI and its competitors have been seeping into nearly every industry and dismantling whole careers along the way. It says gaming might be the biggest, biggest industry that AI stands poised to conquer. Its economic might has long since eclipsed Hollywood's, while its workforce remains mostly non union. And a recent survey from the organizers of the Game Developers Conference found that 49% of the surveys, more than 3,000 respondents said that their workplace used AI and four out of five said they had ethical concerns about its use. Incredible. Nearly half of all studios are now actively using generative AI. And I mean, even if you don't work in the video game industry, I think you should take a look at this to see how industries react to certain things, because I think this is probably going to be one of the industries that get hit first. But in doing so, you can kind of look at how people manage to maneuver themselves, how companies act and the things that companies do. Because from looking at this, I think some of the companies are doing some pretty shady things and some not so surprising things when you think and understand that they're actually living in a capitalist society. So you know, it's here, it's definitely here right now, says Violet, a game developer, technical artist and a veteran of the industry who's worked on AAA games for over a decade. I think everyone's seen it get used and it's a Matter of how and to what degree the genie is out of the bottle, Pandora's box is open. And that's just basically saying that, look, of course this is not something that people are thinking about. This is something that is now. And this is like an early warning for people in other industries who seem to think that this thing could never happen. Because one thing that we've seen is that you don't want to underestimate AI. The article continues to state that job automation rarely happens evenly or cleanly. Historically, much of its impact is felt through deskilling and as more tasks are handed over to a machine or program or attrition, as employees who are laid off, quit or retire don't get replaced or hired back. And generative AI, by all indications, is no different. Essentially, what they're saying here is that, look, generative AI doesn't happen in one fell swoop. It's not like one day people are employed and then the next day everyone's gone. But the main impact is felt through, you know, over time. You know, some people were laid off, some people just quit, and some people just don't get replaced. And, you know, the industry stops growing. And what used to be, okay, let me find a new employee is now, oh, let me sign up to this new software program. And I think once people start to understand that this kind of change is going to happen slowly rather than all of a sudden, it means that once you realize where the trajectory is headed, you can start to position yourself best. What I'm saying here is that even if GPT5 could do a large amount of jobs, or even GPT6, the point is that it's not all going to be adopted on day one. The impacts within an industry are felt over a couple of years as technology adoption cycles manage to change. But that doesn't mean that this change isn't occurring. Says managers at video game companies aren't necessarily using AI to eliminate entire departments, but many are using it to cut corners, ramp up productivity, and compensate for attrition after layoffs. In other words, bosses are already using AI to replace and degrade jobs. And the process just doesn't always look like what you might imagine. It's complex, based on opaque executive decisions, and the endgame is murky. It's less Skynet and more of a mass effect. It's happening right now. So, you know, don't take it from me as the Wired article says that, you know, bosses are already using AI to replace and degrade jobs. And funnily enough, I do remember there Was that video by a YouTuber. It actually did get a huge amount of views. I think it got around 700,000 views to where he basically described that look. I was a graphic designer and you know, now my boss just basically laid me off and getting paid for a.

St, then nobody could cover for me and the company ended up with work stacking up. However, over the past three months I'd say I've noticed that my schedule at the company became like less and less cluttered and it got to the point where I was getting paid for a 7 hour and 30 minute day and some days only doing 2 hours of work, which obviously was great for me. I loved it. Got up at 9 o' clock because it was work from home as well. I do two hours of work and I'd have nothing left to do for the rest of the day. Maybe some revisions, amends would come in at like 3 or 4 o'. Clock. I'd do those for 20, 30 minutes and that'd be my day. I'd essentially do between two and three hours of work and get paid for seven and a half. It was great for like three or four months. And then yeah, on Monday this week I got told that I'm being made redundant. And I was thinking, how could this be possible?

But basically this was something that I posted when I launched my Patreon and it, the video that I spoke about, the video was one that, you know, I'm just going to click on it now. But this video was by this guy called Nade. Nade, Straight or whatever. And he basically said that, you know, that he lost his job because of AI. Now, now this is something that most people fear. This is the horror scenario. You wake up one day and your boss has replaced you with an AI tool. And even if you don't have a boss, but your industry has just changed and you no longer have a career. I mean, just getting fired, losing your sense of income is just not great. But I noticed a few things in this video that I felt most people weren't paying attention to. And I wanted to talk about them on the Patreon because that was basically where I thought a lot of people were missing the actual information that could be used to help them in the future scenario. Basically I said that most people are missing the real story. The headline man loses job to AI is making waves. But let's dig deeper. Why shouldn't have this been a surprise? And this isn't saying that AI isn't going to take people's jobs. But just listen to What I said, okay, I said that there was a lack of productivity before automation. The designer in this actual video admitted that he would work two hours every day, edit his templates and do nothing else. And this was before AI took his job. And he also failed to notice the reduction in his working hours and didn't utilize his free time effectively. So I put here ineffective use of free time. And I said that, look, when AI tools impact your workplace, having free time is not a good sign. You should be using your free time to a search for a new job or career or B become more effective and more productive and leverage the AI tools to add value to your company. Now, I know some people have this anti work agenda where they're like, okay, I should only do the minimum possible. And I know that there's culture, that culture is kind of being there, especially at some companies where they don't value you at all. But I do think that if you do have extra time because of AI, of you know, that is probably coming, you have to at least do something, such as looking for new industries, adjacent areas where your skills are effective, rather than waiting for the ball to drop. Like I said, the key takeaways here is that the video highlights what not to do when facing the rise of AI in the workplace. He ignored developments in his industry and didn't use his extra time to search for a job despite having months to do so. Basically, I know I got a bit off track here, but the point is, is that we could all take this as a lesson. The guy in the video, long story short, basically spoke about how he would only work for two hours a day, his work was getting less and less, and if he had just, you know, I'm not saying needs to be in my community, I'm not saying he needs to pay attention to every AI update, but if he looked at these AI tools and realized that, okay, these guys could literally replace me within 10 to 15 minutes every single day, I should probably be looking for a new career or at least learning how to leverage these tools. So I'm a lot more effective and maybe I'm going to be working at a different industry where I can leverage my existing skills to learn some of the new technologies. Either way, the point is that I don't think this person did the best thing that they could have. And the reason that I really just wanted to input that there is because it was one of the first cases where we actually see someone definitively get replaced by AI. And it's something that I think happened in a way that will happen for most people. It will be slowly, but as long as you pay attention, you can, you know, at least in certain industries, not be someone who's caught off guard. Which is why I have my community where I say, look, don't get caught off guard. At least stay proactive. Now they state that, you know, there was this, which was, you know, pretty fascinating. They said, though many of the game workers and artists were queasy about this proliferation, some were even afraid for their livelihoods, spoke out, and I think we all didn't talk about it for much, fear of losing our jobs. Noah says. He claims that Activision assured its artists that generative AI would be only used for internal concepts, not final game assets, and importantly, that AI would not be used to replace them. Yet by the end of the year, Activision made an AI generated cosmetic available for purchase of the Call of duty Modern Warfare 3 store. And in late January, Microsoft laid off 1900 Activision Blizzard and Xbox employees. And among the teams hit the hardest were the 2D artists. So it's pretty disingenuous for the CEOs or the upper management to say, oh, we're not going to be using AI to replace you. And then a few months down the line, they're just laying off 1900 people. So this is another thing that I think is important. Unless you're in certain societies and certain industries where there's a lot of regulation before certain tools can proliferate through the industry and then eventually replace you. I think one of the things you do have to unfortunately believe is that these upper management people, these bosses, these CEOs of these companies, their goal is always going to be to make more money. Unfortunately, in some cases, they're not always going to be loyal to their employees. And this doesn't mean you should hate them. It's just the rules of the game. And essentially, I think what we can understand here is that I wouldn't believe CEOs, if they do say that AI wouldn't be used to replace them, because it only takes a bad quarter for the easiest thing for them to do, to just replace a team that they know that they can easily do with generative AI. So I personally wouldn't be resting if my CEO, for example, if I was working at a company and the CEO was like, okay, I'm not going to use AI to replace anyone. Don't worry. I. I still wouldn't take their word for it because things can change in a dime. And we've seen here that Microsoft and Activision Blizzard laid off some 2D artists anyway. So whether or not it was AI related, I mean you always do want to put your best foot forward and you don't just want to be thinking, okay, just because they said they're not going to lay people off that you're thinking, okay, I'm completely fine. You always want to be like, okay, I believe you. But I'm still going to be making sure that I at least know what my skills are valued. I at least know where my skills are and what other industries I can go to if I need to. Because if you're one of the 1900 hit, you were definitely like blindsided after the CEO said that they weren't going to do that. And you can see here, one person said what an effed up day. Half the environment, art team cut from Overwatch 2, which are folks that I helped hire and train. And then of course you can see that they basically said here that the entire department was slashed and the remaining concept artists were then forced to use AI to aid in their work. And they were basically forced to use AI and sign up for AI trainings. And it's basically being produced promoted throughout the company. So Companies can do a 180 and things can change in a dime. So unfortunately, if people are saying that we're not going to use it, we're not going to use AI, unless there are laws prohibiting it, all bets are off. Unless there are unions and laws, I would always hedge my bets, hedge my bets on my savings, on my investments, on how I can maneuver. Because you truly do never know. And you can see here it Sundays from an AI perspective, different parts of the industry are getting eaten up by others, says Violet, who asked to use a pseudonym for fear of retribution. Why get a bunch of expensive concept artists or designs when you can get an art director to give some bad directions to an AI and get stuff that's good enough or really fast and get a few artists to clean it up. Hence the emerging consensus that concept artists, graphic designers, asset artists and illustrators have been most impacted by AI so far attested by personal accounts of game employees, laid off workers themselves, and the realms of posts on Reddit X and beyond. So basically, from all the data sources, we're seeing that these are the people that are hit the most. And it looks like concept artists, graphic designers. You know, this is going to be something that unfortunately is impacted quite a bit. Some data for you guys. It says here that a recent report from the consulting firm at CVO Economics, commissioned by the entertainment industry trade groups, found that the gaming industry already relocated tasks to generative AI, more than its peers in TV, film or music. And according to its survey of 300 CEOs, executives and managers, and nearly 90% of video game companies had already implemented generative AI programs. The trend is clear. If more than 90% of video game companies have already implemented generative AI, how long do you think it is before many of those jobs that are easily done by tools today are going to be unfortunately automated away? I mean, it's quite, you know, I don't even know the words to describe it. I mean, it's like, it's pretty crazy when you think about, you know, just two years ago, the kind of tools we had, and now, you know, already 90%. I mean, it just shows you that, you know, this stuff can happen pretty quickly. And of course, you can see here, you know, gaming CVL found that it relies heavily, more so than other entertainment industries on generative AI to carry out tasks like generating storyboard character designs, renders and animation. And in fact, by some estimates, alternative AI may contribute to more than half of the game development process in the next five to 10 years. So that's, I guess you could say, 50% of, you know, all jobs related to game development being automated within the next five to 10 years. Now, there was also this interesting tidbit where they spoke about how U.S. law insists that any work seeking copyright must have a human author. Which, you know, which this fact basically gives Hollywood studios a pause. But. But it's still an open question on whether using unlicensed intellectual property to train AI systems violates copyright. They're basically saying that, look, in order to actually use this work, it needs a human author. So essentially we do need some humans in the mix. But of course, these systems are trained on unlicensed ip, so it's just a really, really gray area. And you can see right here that even in cases in which an AI program generates work based on human prompts, courts have ruled that against copyright protection. But of course, the thing is about game development, a lot of stuff doesn't make it into the final product. So for things like concept art, character descriptions, or code that doesn't wind up in the game, it's harder to determine what is out of line. Like, how do you prove that that is copyright infringement? Once again, you can see here, and once again, you can see here that it says Riot Games, the company behind the wildly successful League of Legends, you know, basically saying that, you know, I remember the leadership was saying that they didn't intend to Replace anyone with it because they knew the value of their artists and, and how much, you know, the art at Riot was what carried its brand integrity. And as someone that played this years ago, I gotta be honest, their art was like insane. Like genuinely. I know it sounds like a nerdy thing to say, but like, I've never seen video game art like Riot games. It was honestly truly top notch. So them saying that kind of does make sense in this very specific scenario. But of course what they did have was they did actually fire some people. I don't actually have the screenshot from the article, but they did by some people after that statement or before that statement or around that time. So like I said before, you know, you can never trust exactly what's going on. Now you can see right here that some other people in the industry, people in China, are talking about the fact that the number of illustrated jobs in his country had fallen by 70% due to in part the widespread availability of generative AI tools. So this is someone that's looking that, hey, looking at this, you can see that certain industries are really declining in terms of the demand. And one of the things I always said that in some industries it's not going to be that you lose your job if it might just be that there's less demand for work or your wages is just cut by 30 or 40% and you're now previously when you were comfortable, you might be, God forbid, struggling to make ends meet. And what's interesting is that companies like Activision Blizzard and Riot are actually developing their own in house systems for generative AI to varying degrees of success. So let me know what you guys thought about this. I thought this entire thing was insightful in terms of how an industry is being impacted by AI. I think this is rather important because it kind of shows us how AI can proliferate through an industry through different layers and how companies are going to act. One of the things that we can take away from this is that you can't always trust upper management when they say they're not going to use AI because all it takes is bad quarter and then boom, they've decided to automate half of their stuff. So I think another thing as well is that you always need to stay proactive. As long as you're understanding what tools are being used in common workflows, you're going to realize where the impact is going to be and you're always going to understand that, okay, this is next to the chopping block. I need to at least be the first one not out the door, but at least looking for the next step in my career because I don't want to be someone who just gets fired six months down the line. Because one thing we do know is that this technology is going to continue to improve. Now. I did actually update my database with a few of the roles that are going to be taken by AI. You can see I've updated concept tasks, graphic designers. There's just a bunch of stuff. This is an entire database. I don't want to go through the entire thing. It's pretty boring for this video. But if you do want access to this database that's updated nearly every day, don't forget to join the post AGI preparedness community where we discuss things like this every day and we focus on actually being proactive rather than waiting for updates to drop out of thin air and our life to be upside down. Hopefully you found value in this video. I'd love to know your thoughts about what's going on and I'll see you in the next one. I.