Will AI Make Freelancers Obsolete...or Unstoppable?

Hi friends,

As AI helps democratize the booming Gig Economy many freelancers are worried about its potential impact on their livelihood.

Let’s address a few of these concerns:

Q: Does AI mean anyone without skills can compete for freelance jobs?

Not quite. AI fills some gaps, but you can’t replace raw talent, passion, and years of experience with a few prompts.

Q: Will AI cheapen artistic expression?

AI can certainly churn out content, but true creativity? Probably not. AI can generate ideas, but it lacks the soul and emotion that make art in any medium, truly special. Your unique voice and vision are what set you apart.

Q: Will clients just use AI themselves and ditch freelancers?

Maybe for basic tasks. However complex and creative projects require human expertise. AI is like a Swiss army knife – great for some things, but it can't replace a skilled craftsman.

Q: So, AI drives down project costs and creates a freelancer free-for-all?

There might be a dip in basic service prices, but the real value comes from human expertise combined with AI efficiency. Clients will still seek out, and pay for, freelancers who understand their needs, can think strategically, and deliver results – not just someone who can push a button.

Overall, the gig economy offers flexibility and freedom, but it also comes with challenges.

Freelancers need to be adaptable, develop strong business skills, and leverage technology to their advantage.

Become an ‘AI-augmented’ freelancer, and watch your value soar!

Check out our video below for more ideas, and refer to this week’s Skills Shift Infographic for guidance on how to go about using AI to your advantage.

AI SMORGASBORD

Avatars of the dead: For as little as 20 yuan (around $3), Chinese netizens can create a moving digital avatar of their loved one, according to some services advertised online. So this year, to mark the tomb-sweeping festival innovative mourners are turning to artificial intelligence to commune with the departed.

Mind Reading AI? An AI-based decoder that can translate brain activity into a continuous stream of text has been developed, in a breakthrough that allows a person’s thoughts to be read non-invasively for the first time.

Dr. AI Doolittle? Earth Species Project is a non-profit dedicated to using artificial intelligence to decode non-human communication. “ More than 8 million species share our planet. We only understand the language of one …Like the telescope, these new tools will forever change our perspective.” I LOVE this AI application and will be following with interest. Imagine the potential to redefine the relationships between humanity and other species …

“Deep Fake” concern: As worries about the misuse of deep fake content intensify, Facebook and Instagram will label digitally altered, generated content as ‘made with AI’.

AI MADE EASY

Let’s take a look at some of the ways freelancers with different specialties can leverage AI to make life a little easier.

AI TOOLKIT

AI capabilities are found in the most unexpected places these days, as more platforms are either built on an LLM like ChatGPT or integrate these capabilities. Take a look inside any of the platforms you currently use, for any purpose, and you’ll usually find a treasure trove of AI resources.

AI SKILLS-SHIFT

So, how do you set about becoming an “AI Augmented Freelancer”? As with anything worth doing, it just takes a little focus.

AI-FLUENT?

Are you comfortable talking-the-AI-talk? Boost your understanding and vocabulary with our plain English glossary and easy-to-understand analogies.

WHAT IS A ‘TOKEN’?

A "token" in the context of AI is a fundamental unit of data: In this sense, a token is the basic building block of information that AI algorithms process. It can represent various things depending on the context, such as:

• Words in a sentence

• Characters like letters or numbers

• Parts of words (subwords)

• Punctuation marks

• Even special symbols used internally by the AI system

Tokenization process: This refers to the act of breaking down data (usually text) into these individual tokens. It's a crucial pre-processing step that prepares the data for AI models to understand and analyze it effectively.

Here's an analogy: Imagine a sentence as a Lego model. Each Lego brick is like a token, the basic unit that forms the entire structure. By breaking down the sentence into tokens for instance: "The", "cat", "sat", "on", "the", and "mat". the AI model can understand the individual components and how they fit together to form the complete meaning.

There can be different types of tokens depending on the specific application. Some models might use whole words (word tokens) as the basic unit, while others might benefit from splitting words into smaller meaningful parts (subword tokens).

WDIM: Tokenization is vital for various AI applications, not just natural language processing (NLP). It can be used to prepare image data (breaking an image into pixels) or even audio data (splitting sounds into smaller segments) for machine learning algorithms.

THROUGH A-EYES

Meshy AI is a user-friendly tool for creating 3D models. Don’t measure its capabilities by my rather simplistic experiment - other demo videos show greater scope and sophistication 🙂 And, as with the majority of AI apps, you can expect rapid evolution in the 3D modeling field.

FREE RESOURCES

CURIOUS CAT

Meet Jackson Barn Cat a.k.a. JBC, office manager, resident AI-whisperer, and all-round curious cat. Each week he’ll nose bop a new challenge 😺

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