When artificial intelligence features come to After Effects, will it make designers, animators, and third party tools obsolete?
Adobe recently released an AI-powered generative video feature for Adobe Firefly. I've generated hundreds of images with Firefly and Midjourney, but I've never generated a video before, so I immediately went to try it out. I typed out the first prompt that entered my head:
"A cat walking on the beach"
Within three minutes, it delivered this HD clip...
Now, even with some inconsistencies in the texture of the sand, and the occasional warping of the cat's legs, you can't ignore the incredible potential—and the alarming rate at which this technology is developing. It certainly has me, a full-time After Effects template creator, wondering how this will change the industry. Will AI replace creators like me? Will After Effects templates become obsolete? Or particle simulation plugins? What about freelance motion designers? What about VFX studios?
I've been asking myself these questions since I generated my first image with Midjourney in 2023. You may think I'm being dramatic, so bear with me as we consider the direction that AI is heading.
As this Pika AI video on Reddit shows, there are already AI tools out there that will automatically add advanced effects to footage, such as replacing a green screen with a generated landscape, putting a tattoo on a character's arm, or changing a shot's background to a San Fransisco skyline. These effects would traditionally take a professional days to complete, and can now be done instantly with a prompt. With these kind of developments, it's not hard to imagine a future where a single VFX artist creates all the effects for an entire film.
Although trailing behind Photoshop in its AI capabilities, After Effects currently does have some AI tools, such as the Content-Aware Fill, which lets you remove unwanted objects from your footage. But my guess is that it won't be long—perhaps with the next release (2026)—before After Effects dramatically extends its generative AI capabilities. And what will that look like? Initially, I think it could look like prompt-driven rotoscoping and motion tracking, and generating basic visuals from a prompt—perhaps simple animations, or possibly overlays and visual effects, like fog and explosions. It might actually integrate Firefly into the AE interface, allowing you to generate footage or character animations. Further down the road, it will likely allow very specific enhancements and transformations in your footage, and more detailed customization of your generated animations. Perhaps it will create rich animated titles (AI still has trouble with text), or even complete tedious After Effects tasks in AI, directed by a prompt. Maybe it will create full compositions with layers and effects. It's hard to know, but I wouldn't underestimate what AI is capable of.
On the one hand, I can’t deny how exciting that all sounds. It would speed up workflows tremendously and open creative doors that were previously unimaginable. On the other hand, I'm terrified at the pace this technology is moving, and what that incredible power in the hands of everyday After Effects users means for artists like me.
I have had debates with people who argue that AI is just another tool that will make our jobs as creators easier. But I think most people vastly underestimate AI's future impact. To me, it's not "just another tool" that will help designers and animators, like a cool new app. It's a tool that will help less experienced users create what they want with merely a few words of text, bypassing the professional designer or third-party tools altogether. We're not seeing much of that now, because it's still in its infancy. But we can be sure that AI tools will become more accessible, easier to use, and the quality will continue to improve. And in the end, it will come down to money. Consider that in the near future, AI will allow users to customize every detail of their generated footage, motion designs, and overlay effects. I struggle to imagine why an editor or producer would spend the time and money on an animator when they can do it themselves, quickly and at no extra cost. Why hire an artist when AI can create beautiful art and animations from a single prompt?
Companies will always take the cheapest route to accomplish their goals. Perhaps the largest brands will be willing to fork over more money for the "real thing" (ignoring the Marvel poster below with the four-fingered man), but most will not hire professionals if they don't need to, and our industry will inevitably suffer casualties.
Before I started creating VFX After Effects templates, I was a full-time stock image and stock footage contributor to sites like Getty, Shutterstock, and Pond5. My earnings from those platforms have dropped considerably. I can't say for certain that AI image generation is to blame, but one thing is clear—stock agencies are scared (and they should be). As a long-time contributor, I have always held a certain disdain for these notoriously greedy agencies, and it's quite amusing to watch them scramble to stay relevant and implement paid AI image generation into their sites—even though there are plenty of less costly or free options available. The reality is, AI-generated images now outnumber traditional photographs on the internet, with an estimated 15 billion as of February 2024. And it’s not just stock photography that’s under threat. According to a recent report by Goldman Sachs, AI could replace the equivalent of 300 million full-time jobs worldwide. Creative roles, like stock photographers, once thought to be immune to automation, are now very much in jeopardy.
There’s also the question of quality. Currently, AI-generated video still has noticeable artifacts—morphing limbs, strange physics, and an overall lack of true control. But that won’t last long. The leap from the bizarre monstrosity of Will Smith eating spaghetti to today's near-photorealism took a year and a half. What will AI-generated video look like in five?
For now, I’m choosing to focus on what AI can’t do yet, and choosing the templates I create accordingly. AI can't create a carefully designed After Effects template with customizable layers, intuitive controls, and artistic intent woven through every keyframe (not yet, anyway). But yes, It can effortlessly generate a video of a cat walking on the beach. And as the Firefly demo video above shows, it can create animations that make a number of my After Effect VFX templates obsolete, such as my Aurora Borealis effect.
So, where does that leave me—and other artists like me? The common belief in my industry is that AI won’t take our jobs—rather, artists who use AI will replace those who don’t. I wish I shared their optimism, but I foresee a harsher reality taking shape. For now, though, I’ll keep creating. I'll keep adapting. And I’ll keep watching. Because one thing is certain—change is coming fast, whether we like it or not.
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