Examining the FIVERR 2024 Freelance Economic Impact Report (May 2024) Part 3.

This is the third and final of this series unpacking the findings of the 2024 FIVERR Freelance Economic Impact Report. This will take you to Part 1 and Part 2.

This time we are focusing on the findings from the survey related to AI and how freelancers view AI. Some interesting findings…

1. Fear of AI
   31% of independent professionals feel fearful about AI (up 25% from last year). In freelancers working in the creative industries this rises to 42% (up from 31% last year). Generative AI seems to be biting at the heels first of those who work with images or text, which is a lot of the creative industries, so it’s not unsurprising that many of them are feeling more anxiety about the impact of AI on their work.
2. Generational Differences and Gender Differences
   Perhaps unsurprisingly 75% of Gen Z/Millennials are more hopeful than fearful about AI. Also 73% of males are hopeful about AI.
3. Job Risk
   31% view their job at risk from AI in the short term or long-term with 10% fearful of the impact within 5 years and 21% fearful of impact beyond 5 years.
4. Though Confidence is Rising
   27% of freelancers are confident their work will become more secure through AI up from 20% the previous year. So confidence that AI may be a partner and not a replacement to their work is rising. 42% of freelancer do not think AI will affect their work.

5. Understanding Freelancer Concerns of AI Use
   19% of freelancers have no concerns about using AI as part of the freelance work. 81% of freelancers have concerns about using AI as part of their freelance work (with 19% having no concerns). Of those with concerns, the concerns are: ethical use (38%), unproven technologies (37%), security concerns (36%), lower data quality concerns (30%)

6. Quantifying Current AI Use
   40% report using AI tools, software or platforms as part of their independent work in 2023 boosting their productivity through saving an average of 8.1 hours per week. The report estimates that this time saving is the equivalent of 22 million hours saved, or 10,748 full time jobs.
7. AI Uses
   The most common AI applications are: writing content (45%), generating new ideas (42%), enhancing creative output (40%), researching/summarizing content (37%), and enhancing marketing/sales efforts (36%).

As someone who currently only dabbles in using AI I find this quite interesting. I have yet to find AI very useful or a replacement for any of my tasks, but I am very interested to know how others are using AI in their workflows. Having annual surveys that track AI usage amongst freelancers will be useful to understand on a more granular level its adoption and impact. Watch this space…

Do you use AI? If so, for what?