Spamming VFX Artists on Behalf of Company Training AI (Or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and decided This is the Way)
So. Funny story.
Within the last few weeks, some recruiters from staffing agencies started spamming VFX artists with an exciting opportunity: short-term contracts (3-6 months, “with possibility to extend!” - spoiler: it won’t) to help their big, famous, definitely-not-YouNameIt client train AI to do our jobs.
After realizing the real-time VFX community wasn’t exactly jumping at the chance to build our own guillotines, recruiters… adapted. Because that’s what you do when thousands of artists collectively say “no thanks, we’d like to remain employed.”
The New Playbook:
Tactic 1: Personal Email Roulette
Remember that one time you put your email on your portfolio site? Yeah, they found it. Buried in their annals (or maybe just scraped from the internet), they’re now sending “personalized” messages. You know, the kind that starts with “%FIRSTNAME%” and makes you feel so special.
Tactic 2: The Fight Club Approach
“Join us for a quick call! The client? Oh, we can’t tell you. It’s under NDA.”
Fun fact: NDAs cover work content, not employer identity. Saying “I can’t tell you who you’d be working for” isn’t an NDA thing - it’s a “we know you’ll refuse if we tell you” thing.
It’s giving very much “my girlfriend goes to another school, you wouldn’t know her.”
The Pitch (For Those Who Haven’t Been Blessed Yet):
Create before/after VFX pairs. AI learns the difference. Rinse, repeat for 3-6 months. Get paid! Feel vaguely complicit in your own professional obsolescence! Fun for the whole family!
They need thousands of us. Which, if you think about it, is both flattering (we’re still necessary!) and terrifying (not for long!).
Now For The Uncomfortable Part:
Look, I could just end this with “refuse these offers, protect the profession!” And I am saying that. Please refuse. Our creative work shouldn’t become training data for systems designed to replace us.
But let’s be honest: some things feel inevitable. Factory workers got replaced by machines. Telephone operators got automated. Hell, my previous career is currently being eaten alive by AI research tools. (Don’t cry for me; I chose VFX for a reason, and it definitely wasn’t job security.)
The question isn’t if AI will impact our field - it’s how much and in what way. And more importantly: do we get a say in that?
The WGA Showed Us The Way:
Remember 2023? Writers Guild went on strike. Everyone thought they were being dramatic about AI.
They won.
Now:
- AI can’t replace writers
- AI can’t be credited as a writer
- Writers’ work can’t be used as AI training data without consent
- Writers keep their IP rights
They didn’t achieve this by individually declining sketchy contracts (though that helped). They achieved it through collective bargaining and industry solidarity.
Here’s The Thing About Us:
Real-time VFX artists are:
- Global (which is great for networking, terrible for organizing)
- Fragmented (project-hopping is basically our cardio)
- Freelance-heavy (job security? Never heard of her)
- Easy to exploit (see above three points)
I’m not aware of any Real-Time VFX Artists union. VES exists but doesn’t do collective bargaining. Some IATSE chapters cover VFX, but real-time game artists often fall through the cracks.
What would a real union give us?
Collective bargaining power (actual leverage!)
Industry standards protection (no more “exposure” as payment)
Ethical AI guidelines enforcement (with teeth!)
Legal advocacy (blacklist companies exploiting artists)
Education and awareness (like this post, but official!)
So Here’s My Question:
Is anyone actually interested in organizing? Not just theoretical “yeah that’d be nice” interest, but actual “let’s do something about this” energy?
Because right now we’re playing defense - individually refusing bad contracts, warning each other on forums, hoping for the best.
Writers played offense - organized, demanded protections, won them.
Which approach sounds better to you?
I’m not saying I have all the answers. I’m not even saying I know how to build a union from scratch across continents and time zones.
But I am saying: maybe it’s time we figure it out together?
Stay strong, VFX fam. And maybe stay organized too? 
P.S. If you’ve also received these recruiting messages, drop your experience in the comments. The more we share, the more we know. Knowledge is power, anonymity is safety, and collective action is how we actually win.