Answer our survey about how A.I. has impacted your freelancing here: https://forms.gle/p69mD8ucXDHV3PEN9

As artificial intelligence rapidly transforms industries across the globe, freelancers, who make up a significant portion of the modern workforce, are at the forefront of a seismic shift in the labor market. While AI continues to advance, it is crucial to understand its impact on freelance work, address the concerns freelancers have, and advocate for necessary regulations to protect your rights and livelihoods. The Freelancers Union is committed to playing a pivotal role in these discussions to ensure that freelancers' voices are heard by policymakers.

Key Concerns for Freelancers

Client Loss

The rise of AI has brought several pressing concerns to the forefront for freelancers across various industries. A recent study found drops of up to 21% in freelance job postings on major platforms and many freelancers fear that AI could eventually replace human work entirely, rendering their skills and expertise obsolete. This concern is acute in industries ranging from creative to technical, where AI tools are rapidly advancing.

As AI technologies make certain tasks cheaper and faster to complete, clients are beginning to expect lower prices from freelancers, undermining the value of their work. Where AI-powered tools can produce work quickly and at a fraction of the cost, we have heard from members that are finding themselves caught between maintaining their rates or losing work to AI.

Intellectual Property

Intellectual property is a growing concern, where AI systems are being trained on copyrighted work without proper compensation or attribution. Instances of freelancers enduring pressure from clients to sign away their likeness for digital replicas or slyly including it in contracts without acknowledgement is widespread. Additionally, we have been informed of instances where freelance work that was fully original was flagged by a client's software as almost all AI-generated. The agency that hired the freelancer told them not to worry, this was happening a lot. These issues raise complex legal and ethical questions about the ownership and value of creative work in the digital age.

These challenges are reshaping the freelance landscape, and there are a myriad of additional concerns and instances of changes. The rapid pace of AI development suggests that the changes we've seen so far may be just the beginning and is likely to continue evolving in ways we can't yet fully anticipate.

Adaptation and New Opportunities

While the immediate disruption is significant, there is potential for a more optimistic long-term scenario. Some freelancers are finding ways to thrive in this new landscape by using AI to automate erroneous tasks and focusing on the important stuff as well as learning how best to use AI to give them a competitive edge. 

Some clients are returning to human freelancers after unsatisfactory experiments with AI-generated content. A recent Wall Street Journal article exemplifies this trend. "Not long after OpenAI's ChatGPT made its debut, financial advisers who had depended on my expertise in writing about wealth management stopped calling," Jennifer Kelly, a veteran freelance copywriter. "New clients failed to replace them. My income dried up almost completely." However, “months later, some came back to her with an unusual request. The copy they’d been using AI to generate, they sheepishly admitted, wasn’t very good—and could she make it better?”

With current and expected mass layoffs due to AI and other economic consequences, could there be positive externalities for freelancers? At companies who have had recent layoffs, with the top reason being new technology and AI increasing efficiencies, 69% confirmed they hired freelancers after layoffs and 21% shared they are planning to hire freelancers within the next six months according to research conducted by Fiverr. This paints a brighter picture for the independent workforce and increased client demand.

Policy Recommendations

To protect freelancers' rights and livelihoods in the age of AI, the Freelancers Union advocates for:

1. Clear regulations on AI use in hiring and contracting decisions to prevent unfair discrimination.
2. Copyright and intellectual property protections for human-created work used to train AI systems.
3. Investment in retraining and upskilling programs to help freelancers adapt to AI integration.
4. Updates to labor laws to ensure fair treatment of freelancers in the AI-augmented gig economy.
5. Support for ethical AI development that enhances rather than replaces human work.
6. Levy taxes on companies that decrease their workforce in replacement of AI utilization.
7. Transparency requirements for AI-generated content, including mandatory labeling and attribution.

In response to these concerns, policymakers are beginning to take action. Bipartisan groups in the U.S. Congress has introduced legislation like the NO FAKES Act and the No AI Fraud Act aiming at protecting individuals' likenesses and voices from unauthorized AI replication. 

The Road Ahead

As AI continues to evolve, it's clear that the workforce landscape will never be the same.

The Freelancers Union is dedicated to advocating for the rights and protections of freelancers in the face of AI advancements. We are actively engaging with policymakers to ensure that freelancers' voices are heard and their concerns addressed. By collaborating with legislators and industry leaders, we aim to shape policies that protect freelancers from the adverse effects of AI and ensure freelance voices are included in proposed AI regulations. These include calls for clear regulations on AI use in hiring decisions, copyright protections, transparency requirements for AI-generated content, and investment in retraining programs.

We want to hear from you! How is AI impacting your freelance work? Share your experiences and concerns with us as we continue to advocate on your behalf: https://forms.gle/p69mD8ucXDHV3PEN9