[rory]

Are you genuinely asking for advice on what to do? It seems like your options are embrace the new tech, find a niche where you can outcompete it, or find a new way to support yourself that you like better. HN can't tell you which of those to choose.

Personally I think there's a good chance you're overestimating the the extent to which your day-to-day job will actually change by incorporating AI. Machine learning was supposed to take over data science years ago, but data scientists are in more demand than ever, and their work often doesn't involve too much actual machine learning.

[kranke155]

I am just answering what seems to be a common suggestion, which is become an AÍ prompt person. I have two objections to this idea 1. I don’t think this is a well paid job with a moat of a skillset Thats built over years of experience - I assume there will be a race for good UX/UI in AÍ generation of images. The other thing is it doesn’t interest me simply because I don’t see it as a craft of imagemaking. Making a good image means knowing about composition, lighting, detail, texture. AÍ imagemaking doesn’t compare really to spending 10 hours agonising over lighting a shot which is what I love.

Also I asked the question a bit as a challenge yes I do have my own ideas on what I’ll do.

[rory]

> AÍ imagemaking doesn’t compare really to spending 10 hours agonising over lighting a shot which is what I love

I sympathize with you a lot here.

But it's not really a new problem that great art usually doesn't have commercial value commensurate to effort or quality.

[kranke155]

No absolutely not. It’s just the first time that I’m looking at what I do for a living and thinking it’s just not going to exist in 10 years - not in the same way and potentially not at all. I’m in my early 30s, and this is my career. I have some suspicion that there is absolutely no way I can retire on my profession as it will simply cease to exist. Which is a curious problem.

It’s bizarre to me. I’m 33 years old and I still used 16mm and 35mm film at film school. When I was there people were still saying “digital cameras will never be the same”.

Then RED cameras came out and the world slowly moved to digital filmmaking. Then I saw things moving towards CGI and what it once took Pixar 10 hours to render I can do it in better quality on my laptop in 10 minutes these days. I enjoyed that, I thought that was awesome. There’s still skills involved. You have to light the scene even if it’s virtual. Virtual cameras work the same way. I take pictures on medium format film for practice.

Now it’s like - everything I’ve ever done in my life can be done by a ten year old and a sentence. It’s … frightening, awe inspiring. Many things at once. Almost overwhelming. It makes me think we’re at the end of an epoch, because it seems to me that we’re about to automate almost everything.

[badpun]

> No absolutely not. It’s just the first time that I’m looking at what I do for a living and thinking it’s just not going to exist in 10 years - not in the same way and potentially not at all. I’m in my early 30s, and this is my career. I have some suspicion that there is absolutely no way I can retire on my profession as it will simply cease to exist. Which is a curious problem.

Realistically, making images by hunching over a computer for 10 hours is not a profession many can retire in anyway. Like coding (or, perhaps even more so, because the pressure to deliver is actually muc harder), it's a young man's game. People burn out mentally or even physically - carpal tunnel, back pain, neck pain or just lower energy levels due to age can prevent you from putting in the required hours. Realistically, if you stay in the industry, in 10-15 years you'll move into management or high-level consulting anyway.