by Ceren Emiroglu
In late 2025, Disney and OpenAI announced a deal that brings more than 200 famous characters into Sora, turning prompts into short videos and images. For fans, this collaboration seems like an exciting milestone: instant creativity, instant nostalgia, instant shareability. For the industry, though, it’s also a clear signal that generative AI is moving from demo to mainstream production.
However, once the initial exitement fades, a darker question shows up. Is this collaboration just a revolution in efficiency with new tools, faster pipelines, more output? Or is this the sound of the doors that women in the animation industry have been struggling to open for decades closing again?
For me, this headline wasn’t just tech news; it was the realization of a fear I heard directly from the industry. When we designed our research on status of women in animation, we expected to document the traditional struggles of a male-dominated industry. However, our interviews revealed a different, unexpected threat. While historical bias remains, female animators pointed toward a new danger that operates much faster: AI.
Generally, the “AI revolution” is not neutral, and the data shows that women’s stories will suffer the most from this hurricane.
Discrimination not a gut feeling, it’s in the data!
Most conversations about AI still sound like science fiction to me. But what doesn’t feel futuristic at all is who gets to build these tools and decide how they enter our lives. It’s hard to ignore that the power in tech has long been male-dominated, so the “AI risk” conversation cannot be separated from gender.
And we do have hard evidence. In May 2025, the International Labour Organization (ILO) and NASK published a joint study reporting that around one in four jobs worldwide is potentially exposed to generative AI, with exposure higher in high-income countries.
But the gender part is what matters most here. According to reporting on the ILO findings in high-income countries jobs in the highest-risk group make up about 9.6% of women’s jobs, compared with 3.5% of men’s.
This isn’t a story about women being “less skilled.” It is a story about job structure. Many women are concentrated in task-oriented roles that AI can already do well.
When entry-level work collapses, pathways collapse
In many workplaces, AI enters through the easiest pieces: first drafts, basic edits, quick versions, summaries, simple research, routine communication. That’s often junior work, the work people do to learn the craft, build trust, and get their first credit. However, if we lose these entry-level tasks, we don’t just lose jobs; we lose pathways.
This risk is incredibly visible in the animation industry because it is historically built on a sexist division of labor. For decades, men held the ownership and creative leadership. Just think of the famous “Disney’s Nine Old Men”. Meanwhile, women were pushed into secondary, task-oriented roles like “Ink & Paint” or production coordination.
In our research interviews, a female animator expressed a fear that many of her colleagues probably feel: AI is targeting exactly these “entry-level” and technical jobs. These are the first steps where young women entering the industry “learn the craft in the kitchen” and gain confidence such as drafting, editing, and painting. If the “Ink & Paint” of the modern era is done by Sora, how will the next generation of female directors climb the ladder?
If these tasks are handed over to AI, the career path that allows women to rise to creative leadership collapses. If the entry door slams shut, the existing “Boys’ Club” inside will become an even more impenetrable fortress.
Algorithms vs. Emotion: Whose Story is it?
This is not just an employment crisis; it is a cultural crisis. If women cannot enter the industry, we lose their perspective. In our research on the status of women in animation, another female animator emphasised the unique perspective women bring to the screen:
“Women tell more personal stories than men. They feel more comfortable talking about their feelings in their films. There are definitely not enough stories from a minority perspective.“
She was describing the industry’s traditional gender gap, but at the same time, her words serve as a warning for the future we are stepping into. If women are locked out of the creative process, who will be left to tell these unique stories?
The answer is worrying because on other hand AI simply blends existing data. This means it repeats the male-dominated, stereotype-filled data of the past. If we let algorithms write our scripts and direct our scenes, we risk losing the “female gaze”. We might get cartoons that look perfect but feel empty and robotic.
We also know that on sets with female directors, the rest of the team from writers to editors becomes more diverse, too. If we leave storytelling to algorithms, we risk losing not just our jobs, but the “soul” of animation.
The Paradox of “Purplewashing”
And there is a paradox we call “Purplewashing.” Big studios love to market “Girl Power”. They give us strong female characters on screen, like Moana or Elsa. But at the same time, they are replacing the real women workforce with AI tools to save money. Real feminism isn’t just about drawing a strong princess; it is about paying the women who draw her.
Governance, Not Just Progress
It is 2026, and the “AI transformation” is starting to look like a very old story: progress for some, uncertain for others.
The solution is neither futuristic nor complicated. It is governance. The goal is not to ban technology, but to manage it. We need transparency, paid entry routes, and serious investments to help women transition to AI-powered jobs. Otherwise, “AI transformation” becomes just a polite phrase for inequality. We risk a future where animation is very colourful, but very quiet and the unique stories of women might disappear into the code.
References
Brewer, J. (2018, March 8). Why is there a lack of women in animation, and what can we do about it? It’s Nice That. https://www.itsnicethat.com/features/why-is-there-a-lack-of-women-in-animation-internationalwomensday-080318
International Labour Organization. (2025, May 23). One in four jobs at risk of being transformed by GenAI, new ILO–NASK Global Index shows. https://www.ilo.org/resource/news/one-four-jobs-risk-being-transformed-genai-new-ilo%E2%80%93nask-global-index-shows
Le Poidevin, O. (2025, May 20). AI poses a bigger threat to women’s work than men’s, says report. Reuters. https://www.reuters.com/business/world-at-work/ai-poses-bigger-threat-womens-work-than-mens-says-report-2025-05-20/
Nine Old Men – D23. (2018, March 6). D23. https://d23.com/a-to-z/nine-old-men/
Radulovski, A. (2026, January 21). Women in Tech Stats 2025. Women in Tech Network. https://www.womentech.net/women-in-tech-stats
The Walt Disney Company. (2025, December 28). The Walt Disney Company and OpenAI reach agreement to bring Disney characters to Sora | The Walt Disney Company. https://thewaltdisneycompany.com/news/disney-openai-sora-agreement/
Ceren Emiroglu is a M.Sc. student at the Department of Communication, University of Vienna.
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