AI and freelancers: Replacement or collaboration?
As ChatGPT's user base grows to over two hundred million, the possible replacement of human employment by AI is a hot subject. A year ago, the media was concerned about AI's surprising growth. Goldman Sachs found that AI might replace hundreds of millions of jobs.
The amended answer offers a different viewpoint. Freelancers are generally considered vulnerable to AI displacement. Each year, more people join the freelancing profession, growing the freelance economy to almost USD 1.2 trillion.
According to the Bangladesh Freelancer Development Society (BFDS), there are approximately 1 million (10.5 lakh) active freelancers in Bangladesh. Furthermore, Bangladesh has consistently secured top positions as a favoured choice for employers and ranked as the eighth largest exporter of online labour in 2019, according to a study by Pioneer.
Additionally, the ICT Division states that freelancers in Bangladesh are anticipated to generate an annual revenue surpassing USD 100 million. However, others believe ChatGPT, and other AI-driven technologies can significantly alter the existing quo.
Do the expected effects occur? Freelancers have different opinions. Many recruiting clients are satisfied with ChatGPT's textual output, while some say they need better material. Certainly!
It is conceivable that freelancers may experience some displacement due to AI, yet not total obsolescence. The perspective a freelancer holds toward AI, whether as an ally or a challenger, plays a pivotal role, in my view.
As per an article published by Forbes, the life cycle of freelancers follows an intriguing trajectory, delineated by four pivotal stages.
The first stage has 85 per cent freelancers. They are novice freelancers who aggressively seek customers in this phase. To create their name, they may offer reduced pricing and send several cold emails.
AI can save freelancers time by managing social media, meetings, expenditures, and customer contact. At this crucial point, when time is short, AI may boost freelancer productivity.
About 10 per cent of freelancers are in stage two. At this stage, they have discovered their service-market fit. They have signed up customers and are trying to serve them.
They are trying to wow their clientele and ensure that freelancing satisfies their financial demands. AI can aid freelancers in this tier with successful case studies, in addition to all the other work it was previously helping with.
Some 5 per cent of freelancers are in stage three. They have effective case studies and current work. They have built strong customer connections and are contemplating expanding up and outsourcing certain jobs to maintain delivering value.
AI-powered assistants can identify customers that make more money and take less time. By answering emails, it may oversee extensive client contact. This assistant can also anticipate revenue, upsell, and analyse client acquisition routes.
There are about 1 per cent of freelancers achieve this fourth level. They may have become an entrepreneur who uses freelancers to provide a product or service. AI can analyse team members for them. This comprises productivity, task time, working manner, etc. It accelerates delegation and task management.
The question now revolves around identifying the areas where AI can take the place of freelancers.
The evolution of the freelancing market covers not only the substitution of human labour with technical instruments but also the automation of work that may be performed by people. In accordance with this assertion, it is apparent that artificial intelligence has already shown superior performance in some tasks compared to human capabilities.
Tasks like as translation, data input, the generation of industry-specific inquiries, and the creation of mock designs may all be effectively delegated to generative artificial intelligence (AI) systems. Similarly, the use of methodical planning, analysis of several views, and investigation of historical events follows the aforementioned principle.
However, despite its versatility, AI has several drawbacks. AI performs poorly when asked to produce innovative ideas, make cultural allusions, or oversee many unknown factors. The human touch is crucial here, and AI optimisers will be in demand.
I think expertise in AI languages will open doors and create a demand for humans who can see and fix AI faults. To lead the AI assistant, the person must know how to make clear requests and explain them.
Based on the aforementioned factors, I do not anticipate a near-term replacement of freelancers by AI-powered technologies. It is my contention that rather than displacing freelancers, artificial intelligence (AI) has the potential to facilitate company growth and empower individuals in their pursuit of success.
It is hypothesised that those who possess proficient skills in efficiently utilising artificial intelligence (AI) and harnessing its capabilities would likely see more advancements and progress compared to their counterparts within the freelancing industry.
It is anticipated that in the future, there will be a significant reduction in the proportion of freelancers engaged in initial-stage work. In due course, it is anticipated that freelancers facing obstacles would be able to progress with the assistance of artificial intelligence (AI) and ascend to higher levels, such as the second, third, or even fourth tier.
At these elevated tiers, they will establish scalable enterprises, therefore demonstrating the compatibility and collaborative potential of people and technology. This underscores the notion that a binary choice between the two is unnecessary.
*Dr Ashim Chakraborty is a senior lecturer and researcher in AI and Computing at Anglia Ruskin University, Cambridge, UK