AI hitting cultural sector hard: Fifth of freelance artists have lost income, work
Artificial intelligence is having a profound impact on the cultural sector. One in five freelance artists reports having lost income and commissions due to the rise of AI, according to a survey by the knowledge center Boekmanstichting.
The foundation surveyed over 700 creatives, including voice actors, camerapeople, illustrators, and translators. About 6 percent of freelance artists report that AI significantly reduced their income. 12 percent report a slight reduction. Translators were hit the hardest, with a third having lost income.
According to researcher Sita Struijke, the lower income is mainly due to the loss of commercial assignments. “Many creatives, for example, make videos for companies to create space for their own creative work. Clients probably think they are replaceable precisely for these kinds of jobs.” These jobs aren’t the most loved projects, but they are the most lucrative ones.
Remarkably, employed creatives are significantly more positive about AI. About half of the 300,000 artists in the Dutch cultural sector are in full-time employment. They consider apps like ChatGPT as a way to work more efficiently, mainly in office jobs like fundraising and management positions.
According to Stuijke, this shows that AI is increasing inequality. “Self-employed creators were already in a much more vulnerable position in the labor market.”
Djurre Das of the Netherlands Institute for Social Research (SCP), who was not involved in this study, isn’t surprised by the results, he told the Volkskrant. Research by Statistics Netherlands (CBS) last week already showed that the media sector makes the most use of AI - 54 percent of media companies use the technology, compared to an average of 18 percent.
Das stressed that this doesn’t have to be disastrous for the creative sector. “You have to view jobs as a collection of tasks,” he said. “Technological progress always leads to the disappearance and innovation of these tasks. That doesn’t necessarily mean that entire jobs become redundant.” That only happens when the tasks being automated are fundamental to a job. Electricity brought an end to the lamplighter, he explained as an example.
Das added that this is not the first time new technology has shaken up the creative sector. Photography was once thought to be the end of painting, and LPs were supposed to kill live music. “The way we make art has been constantly changing.”
The SCP researcher acknowledged that the changes are happening incredibly fast now, and that can be painful for the people involved. “For example, for translators and stock photographers, who are facing formidable AI competition.”
The umbrella organization for creatives, De Creatieve Coalitie, is advocating for a transition fund to retrain and upskill artists.
