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Cody Luongo, a media consultant in Charleston, South Carolina, recently became a full-time freelancer after losing his job. In this new phase of his professional life, Luongo told Business Insider that AI has become his “constant companion,” helping him do everything from drafting press releases to refining client pitches.
“AI accelerates my work enough that I can do exponentially more for my clients with their allotted budgets,” he said.
Luongo is far from the only freelancer using AI technology to leverage their skills and services. While integrating AI can be a smart and lucrative choice on an individual level, its impacts on the wider gig economy are decidedly more mixed.
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A 2023 study by Washington University found that AI tools actually caused a decline in the amount of freelance work available and how much companies were willing to pay for that work. The study found that after ChatGPT’s release in 2022 the number of writing-related freelance jobs declined by 2% and monthly earnings declined by 5.2.%. For image-related workers, the drops were even sharper- AI tools led to a 3.7% decline in jobs and a 9.4% decrease in monthly earnings.
“AI definitely lowers the barrier to entry, so it makes many activities accessible for more people,” Washington University assistant marketing professor Xiang Hui, who worked on the study, told BI. While that may sound like a positive thing, especially for those looking to break into the gig economy, Hui’s research shows it’s actually not.
Even the most experienced freelancers aren’t safe from AI’s influence, Hui says.
“The drop in earnings, if anything, is actually larger for high-quality freelancers in comparison with low-quality freelancers,” he told BI. “High quality doesn’t really protect freelancers.”
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Hui attributes this to the fact that less experienced freelancers are able to punch up with AI. These new freelancers use the technology to refine their output until it’s “good enough,” and then push out passable work at a lower price point. While there’s still a clear difference between this “good enough” work and truly excellent work, the difference is negligible, and more experienced gig workers lose their competitive edge.
