Will AI replace an Illustrator?
Estimated risk score: 85 out of 100
Very high replacement risk
Estimate · how we score
Our take: Stable Diffusion does the commodity work. The artists with a name survive.
Horizon: about 1 year. That is our estimate of how long until headcount in this role falls by 30% or more.
Median salary $55k a year · Creative
What AI already does well
- Stock illustrations and editorial spot art
- Concept art for games and films
- Children's book and YA cover work
What keeps you valuable
A high score means many of today’s tasks in this role can be automated — not that you will lose your job. People in roles like yours stay valuable by moving toward the work AI is bad at. Build on these:
- Original style with strong personal brand and audience
- Physical media: gallery, mural, print
- Animation pipelines for commercial work
How we score. Each score is our estimate, from 0 to 100, of how exposed a role is to AI replacement, calibrated against published research: Goldman Sachs on generative AI (2023), McKinsey’s State of AI surveys, Brynjolfsson and Mitchell (Science, 2017) and Frey and Osborne (2013; published 2017). It is not a prediction about any one person and not career advice. Disagree with a score? Write to hello@yourstopwashit.com. Read the methodology
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