The use of generative Artificial Intelligence (AI) is creating more jobs for freelancers. However, not all sectors benefit from AI. The demand for positions with skills that can be replaced by AI has decreased by up to 50 percent. This is according to an international study involving the Data Science Society and the Einstein Digital Center from Berlin. “While demand for partially replaceable skills has declined, new jobs are also emerging,” explains Fabian Braesemann, co-author of the study.
AI Developers in Demand on the Freelancer Market
With the increased use of AI applications, the demand for freelancers has risen the most in the fields of machine learning and natural language processing, such as for creating chatbots. Since the introduction of ChatGPT, demand has increased by almost 180 percent. The need has mainly grown for jobs where AI is used to assist. These include areas like business customer acquisition, ERP programming, or data mining.
In areas with declining demand, skills where AI acts as a supplement also dominate, but jobs that can be replaced by artificial intelligence are more affected. Primarily, these are professions that involve writing, editing, and translating content. The study authors noted a decreasing demand for AI-supported professions in web design and development, programming and managing databases, and software testing.
Challenges for Freelance Beginners Due to AI
When looking at all areas, researchers found a slight increase in the demand for freelancers. This trend aligns with a forecast from the World Economic Forum. “Despite fears of mass layoffs, the study shows a more balanced picture,” explains co-author Maria del Rio-Chanona. “For replaceable skills, demand shifts away from specialists, while for complementary skills, it shifts towards more expertise,” she adds.
However, this shift also depends on project duration and career level. Jobs with shorter contract durations showed a stronger decline in demand than those with long durations. Freelancers at the beginning of their careers are less sought after by companies than experienced professionals. The study authors suspect that artificial intelligence supports beginners in companies, and therefore, the need for external labor at this level is lower.
The researchers examined three million job advertisements from a freelancer job board for the study and divided them into 116 areas. They evaluated twelve fields as replaceable by AI. In 59 areas, they saw AI as a complement, and in 45 areas, they assessed the influence of AI as too low. The researchers defined a skill as replaceable if a non-expert person using ChatGPT-4o can deliver a qualitatively similar result to a professional.
