New research highlights significant shifts in freelance job availability and income following the advent of advanced AI technologies like ChatGPT.
Recently, The Financial Times shed light on the profound effects generative AI has had on lucrative professions since its notable rise in November last year.
Referencing studies from August by OpenAI, creators of the widely-used ChatGPT, and scholars from the University of Pennsylvania, the newspaper highlighted that AI poses a greater threat to high-paying jobs.
The research shows that individuals with six-figure incomes are threefold more likely to be affected by AI disruptions compared to those making $30,000 annually.
In the wake of ChatGPT's launch, another analysis observed a significant dip in both job opportunities and incomes for freelancers, including writers and graphic designers, on digital platforms. This trend suggests that AI is not only substituting their roles but also reducing the monetary worth of the jobs that remain.
This particular analysis used data from Upwork, spanning from January 2022 to April 2023. It utilized a difference-in-differences approach to evaluate the employment shifts in professions differentially impacted by AI.
Intriguingly, this study also discovered that freelancers, who were either high earners or had numerous jobs, were equally or more likely to experience a decrease in both job frequency and income. This indicates that high skill levels might not offer immunity against AI's influence.
The Dual Nature of AI in the Workplace
Contrasting these findings, research from Harvard Business School focused on the impact of OpenAI's GPT-4 on employees at Boston Consulting Group.
The introduction of GPT-4 led to a marked improvement in productivity. Users were 25% quicker and produced work of 40% higher quality than their non-AI-assisted counterparts. Notably, those with lesser skills benefitted the most as generative AI is adept at summarizing and processing publicly available information.
The Harvard study identified two distinct groups leveraging AI to enhance their performance. One group, labeled "cyborgs," skillfully combined AI and human inputs at a detailed task level. The other, known as "centaurs," strategically allocated tasks between AI and human expertise.
The report summarizes, "Cyborgs merge human and AI capabilities in detailed tasks, whereas centaurs adeptly alternate between human and AI tasks."
***Written with help from AI.