Despite technological advancements, the animation industry didn't experience any increase in labor productivity. If you want to make an animated movie, you still need as many people working on it and as much time to produce it as decades ago. And because of the
Baumol effect, animation also got more expensive as time went on.
AI, in theory, should be the major breakthrough for increasing productivity, thus decreasing the cost of production. The problem is that we still haven't figured out a standard for using it in practice effectively; we're still just experimenting with it.
This video is a rare example of how AI can be used effectively for animation. Current AI models are great at mass production but struggle with consistency, composition, logic, etc. In this example, they still used a variety of competent artists, but AI technology allowed them to get rid of most of the busy work. I believe AI is used best when it
complements human work. I wouldn't be surprised if techniques like this get more popular in the future.
AI slop is still a problem, though. Seeing the same styles thousands of times gets boring real fast, and the people making them don't give a crap about quality.
Also as much as I liked Pixar as a kid it destroyed western animation. Now everything is an ugly CGI comedy aimed at children with post modern humor.
Chasing profits at all costs is what's killing the industry; ugly CGI comedies for children are just a symptom of it. 2D animation is still often cheaper than 3D at high production levels, but 3D is more popular with the masses, so they continue making 3D. Comedy is one of the safest genres out there, and the US in particular sees animation as something that's exclusively made for kids, so family-friendly comedy is what most of them are going to be.
I also dislike how in the West, almost every animation made for adults is essentially just a bad comedy. Most adult comedies are either pretentious or immature, usually both. Sadly, this is what gets greenlighted nowadays because the higher-ups consider them safe.
While Adult Swim is still somewhat scummy, at least they give a chance for less conventional Western animations to shine. With the creators of Smiling Friends launching their own animation studio, I hope we get more opportunities to see stuff that we otherwise couldn't.
Animators also could just go indie, but then they are going to need to appeal to a bunch of autists, who will be their biggest source of income. If your work isn't autistic enough, you'll stay broke.