The VFX landscape is undergoing one of the most significant shifts in its history. The rapid maturation of generative AI, coupled with the growth of virtual production (VP), is reshaping workflows, creative expectations and the very definition of what the VFX artist’s role entails.
Generative AI is accelerating the pipeline by automating labor-intensive tasks — from roto and clean-up to ideation and previs — freeing artists to focus on higher-value creative decision-making. Leaders across the sector have echoed that AI’s role should enhance craft, not replace or diminish it. Meanwhile, VP, particularly the rise of LED volume work and realtime environments, is pulling VFX into the earliest stages of filmmaking. This deeper integration is transforming collaboration between departments and collapsing the traditional boundaries between production and post. Yet these innovations bring real concerns. Questions around intellectual property, dataset transparency and algorithmic bias continue to challenge studios and policymakers. With anxieties around job displacement growing, the industry must reinforce the irreplaceable value of human judgment, hands-on experience and the artistry required to achieve emotional, believable imagery. Technology may accelerate what we can make, but people determine why we make it.
Hybrid pipelines, globalized talent pools and increasingly modular studio structures are enabling new levels of flexibility. Smaller, agile teams equipped with realtime tools are emerging alongside traditional large-scale pipelines. The skills required are expanding and so are the pathways
into the industry.
As new roles emerge, particularly across realtime, virtual art departments, technical direction and AI-assisted production, we have a unique opportunity to redesign who gets access to these careers. The sector has long struggled with representation, often described as lacking racial, gender and socioeconomic diversity. Creativity thrives on varied perspectives. Our workforce must reflect the audiences we serve.
Building that future means addressing cracks in the talent pipeline. This can be addressed via targeted outreach and mentoring to ensure underrepresented communities are inspired, supported and connected to industry networks. Recognizing transferable skills — from leadership to problem-solving — can help create mid-level and senior opportunities for people from non-traditional or adjacent industries. And equitable access to AI and realtime upskilling can ensure these fast-growing areas don’t become exclusive or exclusionary.
The challenge for VFX is not simply to keep pace with technological change, it is to ensure those shaping the future of visual storytelling are as diverse, skilled and imaginative as the worlds they create. The next era of VFX will be defined not only by the tools we adopt, but by the breadth of voices empowered to use them.
Simon Devereux is the founder & director of Access:VFX (www.accessvfx.org).