Despite concerns about job displacement, some freelancers say they’ve found new work as a result of AI’s incompetencies in fields like writing, art and coding.Leila Register / NBC News; Getty Images
The same technology that was supposed to put graphic designer Lisa Carstens out of business is now keeping her busier than ever.
Carstens, a longtime freelancer based in Spain, spends a good portion of her day working with startups and individual clients looking to fix their botched attempts at artificial intelligence-generated logos.
The illustrations clients bring to her are commonly littered with unclean lines and nonsensical text, and they look like a mess of pixels when blown up beyond a certain size.
“There’s people that are aware AI isn’t perfect, and then there’s people that come to you angry because they didn’t manage to get it done themselves with AI,” Carstens said. “And you kind of have to be empathetic. You don’t want them to feel like idiots. Then you have to fix it.”
Such gigs are part of a new category of work spawned by the generative AI boom that threatened to displace creative jobs across the board: Anyone can now write blog posts, produce a graphic or code an app with a few text prompts, but AI-generated content rarely makes for a satisfactory final product on its own.
The before (left) and after of an AI-generated image sent to Carstens, who was hired to fix the text.
The before (left) and after of an AI-generated image sent to Carstens, who was hired to fix the text.Courtesy Lisa Cartens
The issue has transformed the job market for many gig workers. Despite widespread concern that AI is replacing workers across industries, some are saying they’ve found new work as a result of AI’s incompetencies: Writers are asked to spruce up ChatGPT’s writing. Artists are being hired to patch up wonky AI images. Even software developers are tasked with fixing buggy apps coded by AI assistants.
A recent MIT report found that AI has displaced outsourced workers more than permanent employees. But it also found that 95% of businesses’ generative AI pilots are getting zero return on investment.
“The core barrier to scaling is not infrastructure, regulation, or talent,” the report states. “It is learning. Most GenAI systems do not retain feedback, adapt to context, or improve over time.”
For Carstens, the AI-generated logos clients send her are sometimes well-designed enough that they require only a few fixes on her end. But other times, delivering a quality result requires Carstens to redraw the entire logo from scratch while remaining true to the AI-generated design, which often takes longer than if she were to have come up with a design herself.
Fixing AI’s mistakes is not their ideal line of work, many freelancers say, as it tends to pay less than traditional gigs in their area of expertise. But some say it’s what helps pay the bills.
“That’s all you can do, is learn and adapt,” said freelance writer Kiesha Richardson. “And I have some colleagues who are adamant about not working with AI. But I’m like, ‘I need money. I’m taking it.’”
Richardson, who is based in Georgia, said half of her jobs nowadays come from clients who hire her to tweak or rewrite their AI-generated articles that “don’t look remotely human at all.”
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The same technology that was supposed to put graphic designer Lisa Carstens out of business is now keeping her busier than ever.
Carstens, a longtime freelancer based in Spain, spends a good portion of her day working with startups and individual clients looking to fix their botched attempts at artificial intelligence-generated logos.
The illustrations clients bring to her are commonly littered with unclean lines and nonsensical text, and they look like a mess of pixels when blown up beyond a certain size.
“There’s people that are aware AI isn’t perfect, and then there’s people that come to you angry because they didn’t manage to get it done themselves with AI,” Carstens said. “And you kind of have to be empathetic. You don’t want them to feel like idiots. Then you have to fix it.”
Such gigs are part of a new category of work spawned by the generative AI boom that threatened to displace creative jobs across the board: Anyone can now write blog posts, produce a graphic or code an app with a few text prompts, but AI-generated content rarely makes for a satisfactory final product on its own.
The before (left) and after of an AI-generated image sent to Carstens, who was hired to fix the text.
The before (left) and after of an AI-generated image sent to Carstens, who was hired to fix the text.Courtesy Lisa Cartens
The issue has transformed the job market for many gig workers. Despite widespread concern that AI is replacing workers across industries, some are saying they’ve found new work as a result of AI’s incompetencies: Writers are asked to spruce up ChatGPT’s writing. Artists are being hired to patch up wonky AI images. Even software developers are tasked with fixing buggy apps coded by AI assistants.
A recent MIT report found that AI has displaced outsourced workers more than permanent employees. But it also found that 95% of businesses’ generative AI pilots are getting zero return on investment.
“The core barrier to scaling is not infrastructure, regulation, or talent,” the report states. “It is learning. Most GenAI systems do not retain feedback, adapt to context, or improve over time.”
For Carstens, the AI-generated logos clients send her are sometimes well-designed enough that they require only a few fixes on her end. But other times, delivering a quality result requires Carstens to redraw the entire logo from scratch while remaining true to the AI-generated design, which often takes longer than if she were to have come up with a design herself.
Fixing AI’s mistakes is not their ideal line of work, many freelancers say, as it tends to pay less than traditional gigs in their area of expertise. But some say it’s what helps pay the bills.
“That’s all you can do, is learn and adapt,” said freelance writer Kiesha Richardson. “And I have some colleagues who are adamant about not working with AI. But I’m like, ‘I need money. I’m taking it.’”
Richardson, who is based in Georgia, said half of her jobs nowadays come from clients who hire her to tweak or rewrite their AI-generated articles that “don’t look remotely human at all.”
Humans are being hired to make AI slop look less sloppy
In the age of automation, human workers are being brought in to fix what artificial intelligence gets wrong.
www.nbcnews.com
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