Tesla-Anne Curtis/The Mossy Log
Artificial intelligence is reshaping many parts of our world, including the arts. In animation, AI tools can now generate character designs, storyboards and even entire scenes faster than ever before. While this might sound like a breakthrough, in reality it raises serious concerns. AI threatens to homogenize animated content, creating films that look polished but lack the soul, uniqueness and emotional depth that come from authentic human creativity.
I worry about what we lose when machines take over a craft that has long been deeply human. There is something special about knowing that behind every frame is an artist’s touch, a director’s vision and countless hours of painstaking work. It is not just about the final image on screen — it is about the journey, emotions and the stories born of human effort.
Art is about human experience, and no machine can replicate that.
“My stories come from my family and my friends. It’s just part of who I am,” said Brenda Chapman, director of Pixar’s “Brave,” which won an Oscar for Best Animated Feature. “If the memory sticks with you, then there’s just something about it.”
For example, take a look at “Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse.” With a creative team of 800 people, it took nearly four years to produce, pushing boundaries and blending traditional comic book aesthetics with modern computer-generated imagery. It was not the product of algorithms, but of artists experimenting and ultimately inventing a new visual language. The painstaking detail, nuances, character movements and the unique color palettes all came from thoughtful choices, not quick AI-generated patterns.
In an interview with The Creative Echo, Pete Docter, director of Pixar’s “Inside Out” and “Soul”, commented, “Creative work is a discovery, not a well-mapped excursion. You’ll get lost, and you should; if you don’t, chances are you’re doing something that’s been done before.”
And what about the beauty of Hayao Miyazaki’s “Spirited Away”? This film is a hand-drawn reimagination of Japanese folklore and carries the unmistakable mark of human artistry, combining elements of nature, human love and loss, bringing it to life in stunning 2D animation. In a clip from Miyazaki’s 2016 documentary, he said, “I am utterly disgusted … I would never wish to incorporate this technology into my work at all. I strongly feel that this is an insult to life itself.”
Likewise, stop-motion animation — which requires incredible patience and precision — shows why human creativity remains unmatched. Films like those from the “Wallace & Gromit” universe, “Coraline” and “Fantastic Mr. Fox” were made by animators moving props millimeter by millimeter, photographing each movement diligently. The tactile feel of these films — the textures and imperfections — gives them a charm and warmth that feels impossibly human. You just cannot get that from AI-generated images.
The greatest worry about AI’s role in animation is how it can lead to uniformity. Because AI is trained with existing data, it tends to recycle styles and ideas, producing work that feels familiar but ultimately predictable and uncreative. This homogenizing effect risks turning animated films into cookie-cutter products that lack personality or departure from the norm.
Human creativity, by contrast, is messy, unpredictable and deeply original. It grows from lived experience, intuition and collaboration. Artists inspire and challenge each other, breaking rules and inventing new forms of expression. This creative dialogue is at the heart of the best animated films, and it simply cannot be replicated by code.
Animation is more than entertainment — it is a cultural conversation. Films like “Into the Spider-Verse” and “Coraline” connect with audiences worldwide because they carry distinct cultural voices and emotional truths. AI, with no personal history or cultural context, cannot authentically produce stories that resonate on this level.
So where does this leave us? AI should be seen as a machine that poses a direct threat to creative fields, but it cannot replace them. The heart of animation — the thoughtful storytelling, the unique artistry — must remain human. That is what gives animated films their soul. True creativity is not fast or easy, it is thoughtful, unique and deeply human. That is something AI can never replicate.
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