jesse ridgway Predicts 'The Creator Desert' as AI Art Kills 60% of Freelance Jobs by 2035
In a chilling new forecast, digital futurist and creator icon jesse ridgway has predicted an impending societal collapse within the creative industry, coining the term "The Creator Desert." Ridgway argues that by 2035, over 60% of freelance artists, writers, and video editors will be permanently displaced by generative AI tools, leading to a cultural "silent extinction" of human-made aesthetics. He warns that the resulting oversaturation of cheap, derivative AI content will force a massive consumer backlash, sparking a new subculture of "Artifact Collectors" who pay premium prices for any content guaranteed to have been made by a human hand. This shift, he claims, will create a stark class divide between "prompt jockeys" and traditional artisans, fundamentally redefining what society considers valuable in the next decade.