The media loves using Hollywood as an example of how AI automation will disrupt white-collar jobs. It’s not just factory workers who are racing against the machines.

The latest example comes from The New York Times, “Will A.I. Upend White-Collar Work? Consider the Hollywood Editor” by reporter Noam Scheiber. The piece leads off with the story of Thomas R. Moore, an editor with over 40 years of experience, who fears AI’s impact on his profession. Typically, editors spend weeks creating episode cuts and incorporating feedback, earning $125,000 to $200,000 annually. Moore believes AI could soon produce initial cuts, potentially reducing workdays by a third and transforming editors into “electronic gig workers.” He cites video-making software like Sora as evidence of this impending shift in the industry.

What’s more, even the editor’s labor union, the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees, thinks the shift is inevitable. The Age of AI is approaching quickly, love it or not. As one union official put it, “We cannot defy it or attempt to prohibit [AI’s] use.”

That’s a smart baseline thesis. Here are a few more: AI will be disruptive to the labor market, creating both winners and losers. But history strongly suggests that the net effect will be to increase workers’ productivity, wages, and incomes. Rather than eliminating jobs entirely, AI is more likely to change the nature of existing jobs. Workers may spend less time on tasks that AI can do more efficiently, allowing them to focus on higher-value activities that require human skills. AI will likely create many new jobs and occupations that we can’t yet predict, similar to how previous technological revolutions created jobs that didn’t exist before. History suggests workers will learn to race with the machines.

Hollywood won’t be an exception going forward. It has continually adapted to technological changes over time. In sound editing, Scheiber explains, the process evolved from manually splicing clean audio to using software like iZotope to remove unwanted sounds. While this software improved efficiency, it also reduced the craft’s complexity. But sound editors still need expertise to balance noise removal with maintaining natural-sounding dialogue.

Or take the case of animators. Beginning in the 1980s, computer-generated images gradually replaced traditional hand-drawn techniques. While some traditional roles disappeared, new opportunities emerged in computer generated imagery (CGI), visual effects, and video games. The rise of CGI led to job growth in computer animation, visual effects, and video games. Bureau of Labor Statistics data shows that the number of special effects artists and animators in the US grew from 26,000 in 2006 to 36,000 in 2022. It’s a classic case of how an automation technology that increases productivity and lowers costs can also increase demand and create more jobs.

None of this will likely comfort many workers who see AI already affecting their jobs. According to the piece, AI programs “have enabled someone with almost no training in sound to press a few buttons and largely achieve what the sound editor previously accomplished.” The anxiety of the present isn’t going to be offset by hopes for the future. Yet even if the credits are rolling on traditional film editing roles, AI’s entrance will likely generate a sequel of new cinematic creativity and production efficiency. Unfortunately, history doesn’t provide spoilers about exactly what the new era will look like.

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