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George Clooney says AI may wipe out about 30% of Hollywood visual-effects jobs

September 4, 2026 at 12:19 EDT

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George Clooney said at the 83rd Venice International Film Festival that artificial intelligence is likely to become a large part of filmmaking and could eliminate “probably about 30 percent” of jobs, with visual-effects supervisors among those most exposed. The two-time Oscar winner, who received the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement on September 2, 2026, stressed that the figure was his own estimate and that he did not know the true number.

September 2, 2026 · Venice Film Festival

Clooney: AI may take ~30% of VFX jobs

At Venice, George Clooney warned that generative tools could wipe out about 30 percent of Hollywood visual-effects work — his estimate, not an official forecast — and that the industry is not leading the shift.

Share of jobs Clooney put at risk vs remaining

~30%

At risk
(Clooney)

~70%

Not in that
estimate

Each block = 10 percentage points. He said he does not know the real figure.

~30%

Jobs he said could go, especially VFX supervisors

~9%

Headcount drop at 10 largest VFX houses vs April 2023 peak

80%

Early AI adopters already using it in post-production

Efficiency case

James Cameron has argued AI could cut VFX-heavy budgets in half by doubling shot throughput, not by laying off half a vendor’s staff.

Labor warning

Clooney said Hollywood is on its back foot. Practitioners flag junior cleanup, rotoscoping, and the supervisor pipeline as most exposed.

What he also flagged

Deepfakes make it harder to tell real footage from fake.
AI will be a very big part of the industry anyway.
He does not want a posthumous digital replica used in ads.

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