AI Animation Protests at Annecy Festival

Protests regarding the use of artificial intelligence in animation are scheduled for this week’s Annecyfest. A number of AI-related discussions are expected to occur at the festival’s MIFA market over the next 72 hours, and small groups of protestors are reportedly prepared to voice their concerns.

Animation industry figures are expressing significant worry over AI's impact on employment, mainly due to potential layoffs from increased automation of animation processes and copyright issues.

Animation Industry Concerns

Last week, French outlet Écran Total reported that various unions, federations, and international organizations from the animation, video game, and other sectors are planning an open-air meeting near the festival’s Bonlieu hub in Annecy on Thursday to highlight the “destructive impact of generative artificial intelligence on the global animation industry.”

The group intends to read a statement, excerpts of which were shared by Écran Total. The statement notes that the animated film industry has faced considerable difficulties for several years, including “massive layoffs, the offshoring of jobs, mergers, liquidations and receiverships that lead to the closure of studios and increasingly restricted budgets.”

The statement continues, “The rapid expansion of generative AI in animation is driven by the belief that it is a response to the crisis,” and adds that “Generative AI is not a tool, nor is it efficient or profitable. It is a biased, destructive, and expensive copycat machine to operate. (…) It endangers the creative and technical professions in each of the industries cited, which will ultimately lead not only to an inevitable loss of knowledge and talent lost forever, but also to the privatization of all artistic processes and of thought itself.”

Signatories

Signatories of the statement include America’s The Animation Guild, Belgium’s A.B.R.AC.A. (Association gathering authors and creators of animation), French animation guild l’AGrAF and screenwriters orgs La Guilde and Le Syndicat des Scénaristes.

Around 18,000 animation professionals and students are expected to attend Annecy this year, where AI's potential impact is a major topic as the MIFA market begins on Tuesday. One senior animation executive stated, “It feels as though we’re toast,” adding that there is talk of “losing 50% of the workforce.”

Concerns about AI are not new to Annecy. Last year, audience members reportedly booed the screening of Chien Mechant’s French music video Etoile Filante, which was created using generative AI software.