Disney and DreamWorks are betting on AI animation, and artists are nervous
As a new report reignites the “AI will make movies 90% cheaper” debate, Disney is going all-in on artificial intelligence and DreamWorks’ co-founder predicts it’ll slash animation jobs. Here’s where the big studios actually stand, and why fans and artists are worried.
The conversation about AI replacing animators is heating up again, and the biggest names in the business are right in the middle of it.
A new report has reignited the claim that AI could make animated films dramatically cheaper, and it lands as Disney leans hard into the technology and DreamWorks‘ co-founder predicts AI will gut the animation workforce. Here’s where the major studios stand, and why a lot of artists and fans are uneasy.
Disney is going all-in
Let’s start with the giant, because Disney isn’t being shy about this.
Disney has moved from cautiously testing AI to embracing it across the company. CEO Bob Iger has called AI “the most powerful technology our company has ever seen” and an “enormously powerful” tool, and Disney has been weaving it into everything from theme park operations to content production.
The clearest signal was a major licensing deal with OpenAI, bringing Disney characters into AI tools and letting fans generate their own short videos with beloved characters in a “safe,” brand-controlled way. (Notably, an earlier version of that Sora partnership hit turbulence when OpenAI’s video tool ran into steep costs, a reminder this tech is still shaky.) And Disney’s incoming CEO Josh D’Amaro has been openly pro-AI, framing it as a tool to “boost, not replace” human creativity, a stance Iger said actually helped him get the top job.
Disney’s careful framing
Here’s how Disney talks about it, and the tension underneath.
Disney is careful to position AI as a creative assistant, not a replacement. Iger emphasizes “the power and the value and the importance of human creativity,” calling technology “an invaluable tool for artists.” The official line is that AI helps Disney’s artists do more, not that it shows them the door.
But critics, and plenty of Disney’s own artists, are skeptical of that distinction. As AI gets embedded into “everything from the brushstrokes of its animators to the logistical heartbeat of its theme parks,” the line between “assistant” and “replacement” gets blurry fast. The fear is that “AI helps our artists” slowly becomes “AI instead of our artists.”
DreamWorks and the 90% prediction
Now to the other studio in the headlines, where the story is a bit more tangled.
The most dramatic claim comes from Jeffrey Katzenberg, the co-founder of DreamWorks Animation (and a former Disney exec). He’s predicted that AI could cut the number of artists needed to make an animated film by as much as 90%, saying a movie that once took “500 artists five years” won’t take “10% of that.”
That’s a stunning thing to hear from an animation legend, and it’s fueled much of the current anxiety. But it’s worth a key clarification: that’s Katzenberg’s personal prediction, and he’s no longer running DreamWorks. In fact, current DreamWorks has sent a more protective signal, the studio reportedly added anti-AI warnings to the credits of The Bad Guys 2, telling AI companies not to train on the film. So even within the “AI is coming” narrative, the studios aren’t a monolith, they’re hedging.
Why artists and fans are worried
This is the heart of why the story resonates, beyond the boardroom.
For animators, the math is scary in a personal way. If “90% cheaper” is even partly true, it’s because hundreds of skilled artist jobs get replaced by a handful of people directing software. The cost-savings headline and the layoffs headline are the same story. After the recent Hollywood strikes, where AI was a central fear, this isn’t abstract to the people who make these movies.
Fans have a different worry: the soul of the work. A big part of why people love Disney and DreamWorks films is the human artistry, the hand-crafted touches, the warmth, the tiny details a passionate animator sweats over. There’s real concern that an “algorithmic era” of cheaper, faster, AI-assisted films could mean more homogenized, soulless content, technically fine, but missing the magic. Critics have started calling this the threat to the “Disney soul.”
The other side: why studios say it’s good
In fairness, the studios and AI optimists make a real argument too.
Their case: AI is just the next tool, like the leap from hand-drawn 2D to computer 3D animation, which people also feared would kill the art form (and instead gave us Toy Story). They argue AI can free artists from tedious technical grunt work to focus on the fun, creative parts, lower costs enough to let more movies and riskier ideas get made, and even let smaller creators make things that were once impossible.
Katzenberg himself frames AI as “a new paintbrush”, not the death of creativity, but a new tool for it. Whether that optimistic version or the grim version wins out is the great unanswered question hanging over the whole industry.
What it means going forward
So where does this leave Disney fans? Here’s the honest picture.
The big studios are clearly committed to using AI, that part is settled. Disney is integrating it across the company, and the cost pressures pushing every studio toward it aren’t going away. AI animation, in some form, is coming to the movies you watch.
What’s not settled is whether it makes those movies better or worse, and whether it’s a tool that empowers artists or one that replaces them. The studios promise the former; many artists fear the latter; and the truth will probably land somewhere in between, and differ studio by studio. For now, the smart thing for fans to do is watch closely, support the human artistry you love, and keep asking the question the studios would rather you didn’t: when the movie gets 90% cheaper to make, who’s the 90% that’s no longer getting paid?
Article compiled with the help of the Pirates & Princesses newsroom.
Pirates and Princesses is your destination for Disney news, theme park updates, and the pop culture you love. From Disney cruises and travel tips to Disney fashion, food, collectibles, and movie news, PNP covers it all. Visit us at piratesandprincesses.net for daily coverage. Follow PNP on Facebook and Instagram, and listen to the Pirates & Princesses podcast on Apple Podcasts and YouTube.
Hat Tips:
Bloomberg (June 28, 2026), “Animation’s AI Reckoning,” for reigniting the AI-cost-reduction debate and the current filmmaker claims
The Hollywood Reporter (2025-2026), verified for Iger’s “most powerful technology” and “invaluable tool for artists” quotes, Disney’s creative-assistant-not-replacement framing, and the human-creativity emphasis
The Wrap and IndieWire (2023-2026), verified for Katzenberg’s 90% prediction and “500 artists” quote, and the DreamWorks anti-AI-training credits on The Bad Guys 2
PiratesandPrincesses.net (2025), our prior reporting on Disney going all-in on AI, and the broader studio AI-adoption landscape