Artificial intelligence creates jobs for freelancers

The use of generative artificial intelligence (AI) is creating more jobs for freelancers. However, not all areas are benefiting from AI. Demand for jobs with skills that can be replaced by AI has fallen by up to 50 percent. This is the result of an international study conducted by the Data Science Society and the Einstein Digital Center in Berlin. "While the demand for partially replaceable skills has decreased, new jobs are also being created," explains Fabian Braesemann, co-author of the study.

AI developers in demand on the freelance market

Due to the increased use of AI applications, the demand for freelancers has risen the most in the areas of machine learning and natural language processing, such as the creation of chatbots. Since the introduction of ChatGPT, demand has risen by almost 180 percent, according to the report. Demand has mainly grown for jobs in which AI is used to provide support. These include jobs in the areas of business customer acquisition, ERP programming and data mining.

In the areas with declining demand, the proportion of skills in which AI acts as a supplement also predominates, but jobs that can be replaced by artificial intelligence are more affected. These are primarily occupations that deal with writing, correcting and translating content. The authors of the study recorded declining demand for AI-supported professions in web design and development, database programming and management and software testing.

Freelance career starters have a harder time because of AI

When looking at all requirement areas, the researchers found a slight increase in the demand for freelancers. This trend is in line with a forecast by the World Economic Forum. "Despite fears of mass redundancies, the study shows a more balanced picture," explains co-author Maria del Rio-Chanona. "For interchangeable skills, demand is shifting away from skilled workers, while for complementary skills it is shifting towards more specialized knowledge," she adds.

However, this shift also depends on project duration and career level. For example, jobs with a shorter contract duration showed a greater decline in demand than those with longer durations. Freelancers at the beginning of their career are also less sought after by companies than experienced specialists. The authors of the study assume that artificial intelligence supports young professionals in companies and that the demand for external workers is therefore lower at this level.

For the study, the researchers examined three million job advertisements from a job exchange for freelancers and divided them into 116 requirement areas. Of these, they assessed twelve fields as being replaceable by AI. In 59 areas they saw AI as a supplement, in 45 areas they rated the influence of AI as too low. The researchers defined a skill as interchangeable if a person from outside the field can deliver a qualitatively similar result to a specialist using ChatGPT-4o.

(sfe)