Future of work
OpenAI and Upwork study how AI is reshaping freelance demand
- Published
- Source
- OpenAI Blog
Summary
OpenAI's economic research team and freelance marketplace Upwork analyzed job postings across 63 work categories alongside ChatGPT usage data. Forty-three categories where ChatGPT was heavily used lost share in Upwork postings, while AI-related projects combined tasks that had rarely appeared together and carried larger fixed-price budgets and more hours. Between early 2023 and late 2025, the task mix in AI-related postings became about 45% more diverse, with similar posted hourly rates. All figures come from the two companies' own analysis.
Why it matters for our work
Freelance markets surface work changes earlier than employment statistics, offering an early read on which tasks shift to AI and which grow by combining with it. The pattern of AI-related work winning bigger budgets also applies directly to how teams allocate work.
Translated from the Korean original. Summaries may be translated and edited. Commentary reflects our perspective; forecasts remain the source’s views.