Changing shape

Special effects artists and animators

Create special effects or animations using film, video, computers, or other electronic tools and media for use in products, such as computer games, movies, music videos, and commercials.

AI Resistance Index 17 of 99

Among the careers AI is changing fastest: more resilient than 17% of the 831 careers we score. AI exposure is high (the Bureau of Labor Statistics rates it high), and US jobs are projected to change by -0.3% by 2035, expected to shrink. The work leans on creative vision.

AI can do many of the tasks, and hiring is expected to grow slower than average or to shrink. The job is likely to change, so build the human parts of it.

Median pay (2025): $102,030
Job growth to 2035: -0.3%
Openings a year: 4,200
People doing it (2025): 51,900
Usual route in: Bachelor's degree

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Where people already use AI for this work

Create visual designs or displays
Create artistic designs or performances
Process digital or online data

From Microsoft Research, Working with AI (2025).

Work AI rarely helps with

Direct organizational operations, activities, or procedures

What the work looks like

Design complex graphics and animation, using independent judgment, creativity, and computer equipment.
Create basic designs, drawings, and illustrations for product labels, cartons, direct mail, or television.
Participate in design and production of multimedia campaigns, handling budgeting and scheduling, and assisting with such responsibilities as production coordination, background design, and progress tracking.
Implement and maintain configuration control systems.
Script, plan, and create animated narrative sequences under tight deadlines, using computer software and hand drawing techniques.

From O*NET 31.0, US Department of Labor.

What the Bureau of Labor Statistics expects

Fewer of these jobs, as more animation and post-production tasks are accelerated by the use of technology, including generative artificial intelligence (AI) tools.

Careers using similar strengths, with a stronger outlook

Set and exhibit designersChanging shape, Index 35, +1.4%
Commercial and industrial designersChanging shape, Index 32, +2.4%
Soil and plant scientistsGrows with AI, Index 41, +6.7%
Physical scientists, all otherChanging shape, Index 18, +2.1%

Also known as: 3D Artist (Three-Dimensional Artist), Animator, Artist, Graphic Artist, 3D Animator (Three-Dimensional Animator), Digital Artist, Motion Graphics Artist, Multimedia Producer.

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Sources: US Bureau of Labor Statistics Employment Projections 2025 to 2035; O*NET 31.0; Microsoft Research (2025); Anthropic Economic Index (2026); Eloundou and colleagues (Science, 2024); Felten, Raj and Seamans (2023). How we score. Updated 12 October 2026.