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Entertainment Workers Take On AI Training Jobs
On-the-job training // Image by Kate Walker with Unsplash
As Hollywood jobs become scarcer, many across the entertainment industry are turning to AI training roles.
Behind The Move: With film and television jobs continuing to shrink, many entertainment workers are finding gigs training the very AI models that could eventually compete with them.
AI training often involves entertainment workers evaluating a model’s outputs — for example, scoring how likely a character is to laugh or determining whether dialogue actually feels believable.
Some workers say they took AI training jobs out of curiosity or to gain an inside perspective on the tech’s capabilities. For others, like former HBO development executive Steven Woolworth, the work has helped pay the bills after more than a year of job searching.
AI companies are seeking experts across a wide range of fields. According to Indeed, AI job postings in the arts rose from 5% to 11% between May 2025 and April 2026.
Final Gig: While AI training jobs may offer a much-needed paycheck, some workers worry the long-term tradeoffs could outweigh the short-term gains. In a recent survey from the National Association of Voice Actors (NAVA), 20% of respondents said they have knowingly lost work due to AI.
As Tim Friedlander, a voice actor and president of NAVA, put it, “I don’t really necessarily fault somebody if you’re all of a sudden given potentially $1,200 for four hours’ worth of work […], but that may be the only four hours you’re ever going to work in that job. I think in the long term, it is more damaging to the entire creative sector to be training these systems.”
What’s Next: As long as entertainment jobs remain difficult to land, more creative workers may have little choice but to turn to AI training roles. For many, today’s stopgap could ultimately help build the tech that’s reshaping the industry they hope to keep working in.
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Today’s email was written by Deena ElGenaidi, Nick Comney, and Kait Cunniff.
Edited by Nick Comney. Polled and Copy-edited by Kait Cunniff.
Published by Darline Salazar.