Jul 17, 2023 11:00:00

It is pointed out that `` pressure is increasing for outsourcing workers due to the development of AI '', and what is the `` impact of AI on work '' that freelancers in various industries talk about?

With the advent of ChatGPT, which can generate natural conversations and advanced sentences, and Stable Diffusion and Midjourney, which can generate high-quality images simply by entering words,

even if humans are superior in quality, they cannot beat production speed and free. There are reports that AI is stealing the work of illustrators and that the way game development is changing . With the introduction of AI , Dropbox, an online storage service, dismissed about 16% of all employees , and 90% of staff were fired because AI greatly reduced the time taken to solve problems. In recent years, there have been cases where jobs have been taken over by AI. Rest of World points out while interviewing freelancers in various industries.

The workers at the frontlines of the AI revolution - Rest of World
https://restofworld.org/2023/ai-revolution-outsourced-workers/

With the rapid development and spread of generative AI, which can generate extremely high-quality text, programs, illustrations, and photos just by entering simple sentences (prompts), various cases and studies have been conducted on the impact of AI on work. reported. A study by OpenAI and the University of Pennsylvania, which are developing ChatGPT, has shown that 80% of all occupations are affected by AI, and a survey by Goldman Sachs, an American financial group, is generative It suggests that AI could increase global GDP by 7% while affecting 300 million jobs.

Research report that automatically generated AI such as 'ChatGPT' will increase the world's GDP by 7% and at the same time affect the employment of 300 million people, pointing out that Japan will be the third most affected in the world - GIGAZINE

There have been multiple reports of large-scale layoffs within the company as a result of AI increasing work efficiency and production volume, but Rest of World said, ``The most affected and most at risk. are outsourcing workers,” he said, pointing out that “ offshore outsourcing workers who have outsourced to regions with lower prices and labor costs to cut costs are at the forefront of the generative AI revolution.” It is expressed as

A 2020 study by the Online Labor Observatory, a joint study of the labor market by the International Labor Organization (ILO) and the University of Oxford, found that freelance workers from India, Pakistan and Bangladesh dominated the platform, while the majority of clients were from the United States. , Canada, Australia, and the United Kingdom. ILO Senior Economist Uma Rani said: “Employers are looking for workers on offshore platforms because offshoring services rely on workers in areas where wages are cheaper. The on-platform fees they have to pay are almost double the exploitation workers face.' Such offshore models have built-in volatility in terms of price and quality, making freelance workers particularly vulnerable to changes in the labor market powered by generative AI, says Rest of World. says.

Rest of World is talking to outsourced workers in various industries in various countries about how their jobs are being impacted by generative AI.

Afael Rodriguez Deustua, who works at

99designs , a freelance graphic designer platform, talks about how he feels he's facing competition from generative AI on his site. 99designs has a 'design contest' that clients refer to to create the desired design, but it seems that the number of works generated by generative AI has increased in the past few months. Deustua said, ``It's hard to believe that someone who doesn't have that talent, or who hasn't practiced for years to develop the skills to 'win' a contest, will enter with an illustration that they didn't actually draw. , it annoys me,” indicating a refusal to use generative AI.

Abisoye Otusanya Azan, a copywriter living in Lagos, Nigeria, writes marketing copy for clients based in the United States and the United Kingdom, mainly in areas such as personal development and fitness. Mr. Azan responded quickly to the ChatGPT epidemic, and he seems to have understood how to give better prompts by gaining knowledge in guides and communities. “I think many clients are already using AI tools instead of hiring copywriters,” said Azan. We've also seen companies, so that could be the next demand area, and I'm curious to see how things go.'

Santiago Bautista Gonzalez, an illustrator living in Mexico, said that when he was good at selling manga-style illustrations, he earned about $ 1,500 (about 200,000 yen), but in early 2023, 3 It has been reduced to 1/1. Fiverr , the online marketplace used by Mr. Gonzalez, has a section for AI artists added, and Mr. Gonzalez learned how to use AI tools and started posting because of that. As a result, they were able to catch up with the trend and gain sales, and the AI content sold their name, which led to an increase in orders for traditional hand-painted products. Gonzalez said, ``I'm not afraid that generative AI will take away my job. Creating images with AI still requires some kind of creativity.And if the job can be left to AI It just means that I work less, have more time for my projects, and earn more money.”

The image below is an ``illustration of a delivery driver who lost a package while driving in the city'' requested by Mr. Gonzalez by Rest of World. Hand-drawn illustrations are a process of searching for reference materials, drawing line drawings, and adding colors from there with Adobe Illustrator, which costs 94 minutes and $ 70 (about 9600 yen). The AI illustration was created by having Midjourney create various images and combining the generated images with Adobe Photoshop, which took 32 minutes and cost 50 dollars (about 6900 yen). I'm here.

Jessica Taliera, who lives in the Philippines and works as an online assistant, writes emails and conducts surveys, mainly with American content marketing companies as clients. “I’m not a great writer, so I use ChatGP to paraphrase, write, and summarize things. In my work, AI tools don't save time, but they improve the quality of my work,' he says.

Meanwhile, Milene Cavalona, chairman of an employee network in a similar business outsourcing industry, said many online assistants are concerned that AI tools will make jobs unnecessary. ``We are not against AI, nor are we against any software development,'' said Kavalona. ``But AI should be a mechanism to help workers. It should not be used and AI should not be used to replace workers.'

Wu Dayu, a marketing designer living in Guangdong, China, said that when creating promotional materials for six pieces of clothing for an online fashion store, she has models, makeup artists, photographers, and a venue. He says that it used to cost about 3,500 dollars (about 480,000 yen) of labor. However, since the introduction of generative AI in March 2023, two people have completed the same work in one day, and the cost has been reduced to $ 140 (about 1900 yen). As a result, Mr. Dayu seems to have laid off 60% of the employees in April. ``Some high-end brands may prefer human models, but for small and medium-sized sellers, AI models save a lot of money and time,'' Dayu said.

Fashion photographer Sheiman Liu, meanwhile, doubts AI content will replace all photos, saying that products advertised using real-life models are more appealing to shoppers. I said that I believe And model Charlene Shu worries that clients using generative AI could drive down hourly wages and pay.

Some offshore outsourcing workers are shifting their focus to AI-related jobs, while others are working hard to combat AI. To keep his business as an illustrator alive, Deustua, an illustrator from Guadalajara, Mexico, said, 'Many clients find it difficult to explain what to ask. We can help from the ground up, and we look forward to building stronger relationships with customers who demand more attention to detail.' In fact, it seems that there was a client who tried to proceed with generative AI and did not get a good shape and turned the request to Mr. Deustua.

Mr. Deustua has worked as a journalist for more than 20 years, and when digital news sites and social media emerged in the 2010s, he felt that print media work was decreasing and changed jobs to freelance illustrator. . ``I have already been evacuated once because of technology,'' said Deustua, speaking of the impact of social change on work.