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The Hollywood creatives training AI to do their jobs
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- DeepHorus
Hollywood creatives, from award-winning writers to directors, are increasingly taking on gig work to train AI models that replicate their own skills, a trend described as being "handed a shovel and asked to dig the grave of my profession." This development occurs as the entertainment industry faces a significant downturn, with professionals seeking to offset tightening earnings by teaching AI systems the nuances of their craft.
The broader context reveals a sharp decline in traditional Hollywood opportunities. Shoot days in Los Angeles fell 48% between 2021 and 2025, according to FilmLA Research. Nationally, jobs in the motion picture and sound recording industries dropped 28%, from 450,000 in July 2022 to 326,000 in May 2026, as reported by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. This slump is attributed to the aftermath of the pandemic, the writers' strike, and reduced investment from streaming companies.
To make ends meet, creatives are signing up with booming AI training agencies that have contracts with major AI firms like Anthropic and OpenAI. They are paid between $12 and $200 per hour. Their work involves providing feedback on AI attempts to perform tasks they would normally be hired for, such as writing screenplays, devising shooting schedules, and creating pitch decks for film and TV ideas.
One screenwriter and producer, Ruth Fowler, detailed her experience training an AI to devise a detailed production schedule for a hypothetical two-day shoot. This included identifying filming permits, location hazards, daylight conditions, and personnel lists. She explained that she took on this work because production is down by approximately 35% and she needed the income, stating, "Everybody was like: 'what do we do?'" Another anonymous LA documentary director trained an AI to accurately transcribe video footage, teaching it to distinguish overlapping sounds and characterize accents, a task that sparked concern among workers.
The implications of this trend are significant, signaling a potential paradigm shift in creative labor. The work involves transferring hard-won human expertise to machines that will likely compete for the same roles. One creative expressed a "fatalistic understanding" of this future, believing that AI integration is inevitable and that refusing to participate would not prevent it from happening.
Looking ahead, this practice may accelerate the automation of creative professions. The experience of Hollywood creatives is a microcosm of a wider economic shift; a Boston Consulting Group analysis from April estimated that 10% to 15% of US jobs could be eliminated by AI, with more than half of roles reshaped. As companies like Netflix already report using AI in a substantial portion of their content, the role of human creatives in the industry is poised for further transformation.
