Science & Tech · AI · 3 hrs ago
Game studios still hire Southeast Asian artists despite growing AI use
Game studios have used AI in games for years, including to control non-player characters, simulate crowds and adjust difficulty.
More recently, they have begun using it to write code, make visual assets and generate voice-overs in real time.
These tools can take over tasks that people would otherwise do.
Yet studios still pay animators in Thailand, Malaysia and Vietnam to create characters.
Many are students or recent graduates, and they charge less than artists in Western countries or Japan.
This shows that human artists still have paid work even as AI use grows.
The sources do not say what studios will do next.
Video game companies are increasingly using artificial intelligence to write code, create visual assets and produce real-time voice-overs.
Despite this, studios still hire people to animate game characters.
Many of those artists are students and recent graduates in Thailand, Malaysia and Vietnam.
They charge far less than artists based in the West or Japan.
Game companies have used earlier forms of AI for years to control non-player character behaviour, simulate crowds and adjust game difficulty.
- Who
- Video game studios and artists, including students and recent graduates in Thailand, Malaysia and Vietnam.
- What
- Studios increasingly use AI for game development but still hire people to animate characters.
- When
- The article was published on 2026-11-02; the trends described are ongoing.
- Where
- Thailand, Malaysia and Vietnam, as well as the West and Japan.
- Why
- Southeast Asian artists charge far less than artists based in the West or Japan.
This story does not have two clearly opposing sides.
Video game companies used earlier forms of AI to control non-player character behaviour, simulate crowds and adjust game difficulty.
Studios are increasingly using AI to write code, create visual assets and synthesise real-time voice-overs.
Studios still pay people, including students and recent graduates in Southeast Asia, to animate characters.
- AI uses
- Code, visual assets and real-time voice-overs
- Earlier AI uses
- Non-player character behaviour, crowd simulation and game difficulty
- Artists’ locations
- Thailand, Malaysia and Vietnam
- Cost comparison
- Southeast Asian artists charge far less than artists based in the West or Japan