AI Cuts Animation Costs by Up to 90% as Los Angeles Film Sector Loses 6,700 Jobs

Filmmakers are already using AI to cut animation production costs by up to 90%, as Los Angeles County’s motion picture and sound recording sector shed 6,700 jobs year-over-year through May 2026. According to BeInCrypto, those losses account for more than 90% of all employment declines across the region’s information industry. Animators and directors say AI is replacing staffing layers across workflows, from storyboarding and character rigging to post-production cleanup. Amazon Web Services recently backed a Hollywood production startup using AI to reduce costs and compress timelines, while Goldman Sachs estimated AI trimmed US payrolls by roughly 16,000 jobs per month over the past year.