Submission statement: Involuntary freelance is hard enough. But a [recent study](https://pubsonline.informs.org/doi/10.1287/orsc.2023.18441) by researchers at Washington University and NYU’s Stern School of Business highlights a new hardship facing freelancers: the proliferation of artificial intelligence. Though the [official spin](https://www.weforum.org/stories/2023/05/ai-work-creative/) has been that AI will automate “unskilled,” repetitive jobs so humans can explore more thoughtful work, that’s not shaping up to be the case.
The research finds that “for every 1 percent increase in a freelancer’s past earnings, they experience an additional .5 percent drop in job opportunities and a 1.7 percent decrease in monthly income following the introduction of AI technologies.” In short: if today’s AI is any indication, tomorrow’s AI is going to flatten just as many high-skilled jobs as it will low-skilled.
51differentcobras on
This was to be expected though, no jobs what so ever, keyword “jobs” why are we surprised that high skilled and low skilled jobs are being taken…. That is the end goal…. You do things because you want to not because you get paid to.
gs87 on
>it’s clear that the AI dystopia is already upon us, actively making conditions worse for workers right now. The only question left is, what will we do about it?
The question isn’t just what we will do, but who gets to decide AI’s role in society, corporate elites or the people?
dgreenbe on
Freelance and contract work in the US was already going down since the economic environment changed and interest rates went up. Hours worked was also down. The labor market just hasn’t been that good, despite attempts to say it’s just “negative vibes”.
AI definitely is exacerbating this, just like outsourcing abroad does. It’s one more thing getting in the way of a company deciding they’re going to spend more money.
tkwh on
Capitalism is the dystopia. On a basic human level, technology advances should be broadly welcomed as they free up humans to do more self-actualizing and do less work to simply survive.
In capitalism, efficency improvements go to capital. I’ve lived in the ~40 work week version of capitalism my whole life (M57). Not one technological advancement has changed this.
Fight the real enemy.
Icyforgeaxe on
The next few years are going to suck if this tech doesn’t hit a wall, but /r/futurology’s utopian future that has been upvoted since it’s beginning always required mass automation of everything. Where you don’t need to work, live forever, and full dive into your vr sex dungeon with an army of monster girls, furries, and ponies.
It’s funny that everyone hates it just because tech bros are behind it. Who did you think was going to do it?
Maleficent-Web7069 on
I feel the current administration is the worst administration for this current timeline. They are removing any and / if all security nets we had in the government. Like they are getting further and further away from UBI to keep things “lean” but once shit hits the fan almost everyone will be screwed with nothing to help them. And I think it will only take another 2 years for the unraveling to occur to a significant point which means – 2 more years of Trump and everyone losing their job. I don’t see this ending well in any case sadly
irpugboss on
I fully expect a 2 tier economy.
One that is a walled garden with AI performing labor and services for select few and everyone else on the underbelly of that economy that are allow to exist as ling as they dont impede resource extraction or industry for the walled garden society.
For example communes can still exist and thrive in many ways without new electronics, technology, etc. or how we are in a modern age with internet devices everywhere and scifi tier stuff yet we have people practically living in the dark ages on this planet still or are ages behind in tech access/progress.
Kind of like that, the bubble for people to reap the rewards will shrink since massive amounts of humans wont be needed to keep that kind of society running more or less.
I just hope the elites in that bubble dont decide it is safest or most beneficial to eliminate the potential threat of the unwashed masses since the peasants are no longer needed to farm their grain, make their swords and fight their wars for them against other elites scheming for their wealth.
fresca718 on
I’ll fix the title for you, “Freelancers that don’t adapt with AI are getting ruined by AI”.
Adapt or die. People probably had these same conversations when we invented the car. Omg the cars are killing coachmen.
ThinNeighborhood2276 on
AI is indeed changing the landscape for freelancers, but it also opens new opportunities for those who adapt and leverage these tools.
DrRenegade on
As a content creator, I already use AI to create custom music, backgrounds for thumbnails, as well as ai tools to make photoshopping really quick. I’m doing all of these independently, and would not have been able to do so without the help of AI. Sorry not sorry freelancers, but AI has allowed me to be a one man show
11 Comments
Submission statement: Involuntary freelance is hard enough. But a [recent study](https://pubsonline.informs.org/doi/10.1287/orsc.2023.18441) by researchers at Washington University and NYU’s Stern School of Business highlights a new hardship facing freelancers: the proliferation of artificial intelligence. Though the [official spin](https://www.weforum.org/stories/2023/05/ai-work-creative/) has been that AI will automate “unskilled,” repetitive jobs so humans can explore more thoughtful work, that’s not shaping up to be the case.
The research finds that “for every 1 percent increase in a freelancer’s past earnings, they experience an additional .5 percent drop in job opportunities and a 1.7 percent decrease in monthly income following the introduction of AI technologies.” In short: if today’s AI is any indication, tomorrow’s AI is going to flatten just as many high-skilled jobs as it will low-skilled.
This was to be expected though, no jobs what so ever, keyword “jobs” why are we surprised that high skilled and low skilled jobs are being taken…. That is the end goal…. You do things because you want to not because you get paid to.
>it’s clear that the AI dystopia is already upon us, actively making conditions worse for workers right now. The only question left is, what will we do about it?
The question isn’t just what we will do, but who gets to decide AI’s role in society, corporate elites or the people?
Freelance and contract work in the US was already going down since the economic environment changed and interest rates went up. Hours worked was also down. The labor market just hasn’t been that good, despite attempts to say it’s just “negative vibes”.
AI definitely is exacerbating this, just like outsourcing abroad does. It’s one more thing getting in the way of a company deciding they’re going to spend more money.
Capitalism is the dystopia. On a basic human level, technology advances should be broadly welcomed as they free up humans to do more self-actualizing and do less work to simply survive.
In capitalism, efficency improvements go to capital. I’ve lived in the ~40 work week version of capitalism my whole life (M57). Not one technological advancement has changed this.
Fight the real enemy.
The next few years are going to suck if this tech doesn’t hit a wall, but /r/futurology’s utopian future that has been upvoted since it’s beginning always required mass automation of everything. Where you don’t need to work, live forever, and full dive into your vr sex dungeon with an army of monster girls, furries, and ponies.
It’s funny that everyone hates it just because tech bros are behind it. Who did you think was going to do it?
I feel the current administration is the worst administration for this current timeline. They are removing any and / if all security nets we had in the government. Like they are getting further and further away from UBI to keep things “lean” but once shit hits the fan almost everyone will be screwed with nothing to help them. And I think it will only take another 2 years for the unraveling to occur to a significant point which means – 2 more years of Trump and everyone losing their job. I don’t see this ending well in any case sadly
I fully expect a 2 tier economy.
One that is a walled garden with AI performing labor and services for select few and everyone else on the underbelly of that economy that are allow to exist as ling as they dont impede resource extraction or industry for the walled garden society.
For example communes can still exist and thrive in many ways without new electronics, technology, etc. or how we are in a modern age with internet devices everywhere and scifi tier stuff yet we have people practically living in the dark ages on this planet still or are ages behind in tech access/progress.
Kind of like that, the bubble for people to reap the rewards will shrink since massive amounts of humans wont be needed to keep that kind of society running more or less.
I just hope the elites in that bubble dont decide it is safest or most beneficial to eliminate the potential threat of the unwashed masses since the peasants are no longer needed to farm their grain, make their swords and fight their wars for them against other elites scheming for their wealth.
I’ll fix the title for you, “Freelancers that don’t adapt with AI are getting ruined by AI”.
Adapt or die. People probably had these same conversations when we invented the car. Omg the cars are killing coachmen.
AI is indeed changing the landscape for freelancers, but it also opens new opportunities for those who adapt and leverage these tools.
As a content creator, I already use AI to create custom music, backgrounds for thumbnails, as well as ai tools to make photoshopping really quick. I’m doing all of these independently, and would not have been able to do so without the help of AI. Sorry not sorry freelancers, but AI has allowed me to be a one man show