OpenAI and Upwork released a joint analysis on Nov 10, 2026, examining how AI use is changing freelance work. The researchers report shifting demand across service categories, broader mixes of tasks in AI-related projects, and larger fixed-price budgets for those projects.
Key findings
The study compared activity on ChatGPT (Jan 2025–Jun 2026) with Upwork postings (H1 2026) and tracked changes in Upwork shares from H1 2025 to H1 2026. Of 63 matched work subcategories, 43 followed a pattern in which activities relatively common on ChatGPT lost share on Upwork while less common activities gained share, the authors state.
AI-related postings by late 2025 requested the use of AI across a wider set of tasks, including chatbot development, video production, marketing automation, and application integration. Within single project briefs, clients often combined capabilities that had rarely appeared together before—for example, AI-generated video, video editing, and motion graphics in one posting.
The mix of tasks in AI-related postings grew 45% more diverse between early 2023 and late 2025, increasing from about 14.6 equally common tasks to about 21.2, according to Upwork Marketplace data through 2025. The report also finds that while posted hourly rates were similar between AI-related and other work, AI-related projects had larger fixed-price budgets and involved more hours.
Context and scope
The authors note freelance markets can reveal changes sooner than employment statistics because postings refresh as client needs change. Upwork’s 2026 Future Workforce Index found 38% of skilled U.S. knowledge workers freelance, and an earlier Upwork study estimated freelance knowledge work generated $1.5 trillion in U.S. earnings in 2024. The analysis is presented as part of OpenAI’s Work at the Frontier series.
The report is titled “The Rebundling of Freelance Work in the AI Age” and was published Nov 10, 2026.
Original source: OpenAI News