The India division of the French visual effects and animation company Technicolor Group has shut down its operations has sparked concerns among netizens who are blaming the rise of AI for job losses in the sector.
Employees at Technicolor India’s Bengaluru and Mumbai operations said the company was shut as part of the group’s global closure, though the company itself hasn’t commented on it. The company worked with several notable Hollywood studios like DreamWorks Pictures, Universal Pictures, Paramount Pictures, and Warner Bros. Some movies include Puss in Boots, Madagascar 3, and the Kung Fu Panda series.
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Reacting to the news, one X user said, “Factors contributing to Technicolor’s collapse include the lingering effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, the 2023 writers’ strike, and the rise of AI in visual effects, which have collectively strained the company’s financial stability.”
The company is believed to have employed 3,200 people in India, with nearly 3,000 in Bengaluru alone. Globally, it employs over 10,000 across France, the US, Canada, and India, including animators, lighting artists, special effects experts, graphic artists, atmosphere and volume metric experts, and image rendering specialists.
Another user remarked, “Technicolor India’s overnight collapse is a brutal reminder that AI isn’t just reshaping industries—it’s erasing them. A cash-starved parent company, already struggling, couldn’t keep pace with AI-driven VFX tools that slashed costs and turnaround times. In the end, the shift to automation made Technicolor obsolete before it even saw the storm coming.”
However, Pawan Prabhat, Co-Founder of Shorthills AI, dismissed claims that AI is disrupting the animation or VFX industry. He explained that the industry that will benefit from AI will be creative designers, who can now spend more time on ideating and less on drafting with the help of AI.
“Given that Technicolor was already in the doldrums since 2020 when it filed for bankruptcy, we cannot relate its downfall to AI in any way. The company memo also states it is winding down operations because of its inability to find new investors, which rules out the role of AI in its downfall. Since India has a lot of creative talent and was an important source of creative talent, it was bound to suffer because of this closure.”
Mayank Maggon, the CEO & CTO of TechChefz Digital said while AI is reshaping creative industries, it is not the sole reason behind major business decisions like Technicolor’s India operations closure.
“The evolution of VFX and motion graphics has always been driven by technological advancements—from CGI to real-time rendering—and AI is the next step in this journey.”
He added that while AI can automate repetitive tasks and optimize production workflows, it cannot replace the artistic vision, storytelling, and human ingenuity that define the creative process. Instead of eliminating jobs, AI is shifting the nature of work, enabling professionals to focus on higher-order creativity and innovation.
“The industry’s future will belong to those who adapt, integrating AI into their toolkit to enhance efficiency rather than viewing it as a threat. As history has shown, technology does not kill creativity—it transforms it. The key is not to resist change, but to embrace it and evolve alongside it,” Maggon said.
