Post by @baldur@toot.cafe

This survey on "AI" and illustration from the Association of Illustrators makes for grim reading

https://theaoi.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/10/2026-AI-Survey-Analysis.pdf (PDF!)

> A year ago, almost a third of illustrators told the AOI they had already lost work because a client chose generative AI instead.
>
> This year, that figure is 46%.

Via https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0I6eztzifK0 who apparently found it via https://www.thebookseller.com/news/rise-in-number-of-illustrators-losing-work-to-genai-survey-finds

Artists are in trouble.

YouTube

The Bookseller

Rise in number of illustrators losing work to GenAI, survey finds

An increasing number of illustrators are losing work and income to generative AI (GenAI), a new survey by the Association of Illustrators (AOI) has found, with the technology “changing not only how much work illustrators receive but how commissions are structured, valued and carried out”.

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Baldur Bjarnason

@baldur@toot.cafe 32 min. ago

This also provides a working example of how infinite supply of mediocre works distorts the market for everybody in it, which software developers seem to have a hard time understanding. Or think that their industry is somehow exempt from basic microeconomics.

Baldur Bjarnason

@baldur@toot.cafe 12 min. ago

This key finding from the study should be pinned on the walls of our home offices:

> 31% reported pressure for lower fees and 27% for faster turnaround.

Pretty sure that, if you did a similar survey of freelance software developers, the percentages would be even higher than illustrators are reporting.

Jack of all trades

@jackofalltrades@mas.to 19 min. ago

@baldur

I've seen this myself. One of my past clients is vibe coding his MVPs now instead of looking for a programmer to implement their ideas. Only once an MVP finds traction they will hire someone to help.

Another client did "90% of the work with AI" and only needs a developer for "finishing touches". It's an eerie feeling, working on a legacy project that's only weeks old. ;-)

But it's nothing new really. The same thing was happening with Wordpress and its multitude of free plugins or other SaaS solutions that allowed entrepreneurs to jump-start their ideas without involving a developer. I see it as just another step on that road.

In the end, a developer will be needed, but later in the process and only for projects that found a product-market fit.

dimenzio

@dimenzio@social.linux.pizza 29 min. ago

@baldur I think there is a non small amount that'd be very happy about a thinning of the industry. Of course, pulling up the ladder and staying as one of the "ai-native" ones.