Against the Algos: How Swedish Comic Artists Navigate an Uncertain and Evolving Labor Market in the Age of Digitalization

This presentation introduces a newly launched three-year project funded by the Swedish Research Council that examines how Swedish comic artists navigate an uncertain and evolving labour market in light of digitalization, particularly the rise of generative AI. The aim is to map and analyse how these technologies affect working conditions, income opportunities, and career strategies for comic creators. In line with the conference's call to investigate how technical systems reshape creative labor, the project draws on surveys and in-depth interviews with both established and emerging artists. The project also traces shifts in the artistic vocation over time and recapitalize some of the strategies artists develop to mitigate or meet these pressing challenges. The project is organized into two main components: (1) a large-scale survey targeting active comic artists; and (2) in-depth interviews with artists from different artistic generations to explore variations in how creators adopt and adapt to new technologies. Across its three-year duration, the project draws on a mixed method approach to provide a comprehensive understanding of both longstanding and newly emerging challenges within the vocation. By capturing the full range of comic creators career trajectories, from the most esteemed and internationally celebrated to those working in more mundane, precarious, or marginal positions, the project illuminates the artistic labour market in its full breadth. By doing so, it also contributes to broadening the knowledge about how digitalization and generative AI currently are transforming creative fields and cultural work.