Artificial Intelligence—popularly called AI—is now a leading news topic, and for good reasons. Top digital companies are making AI broadly available, while at the same time, their CEOs are sounding a warning about its potential to create an “existential threat” to humanity’s future. More imminently, AI is expected to impact remote freelance writing jobs. NXP is evaluating the outlook to put AI’s opportunities and risks in perspective.
Defining and understanding Artificial Intelligence
IBM states, “Artificial Intelligence leverages computers and machines to mimic the problem-solving and decision-making capabilities of the human mind.” More specifically, “these disciplines are AI algorithms—coded instructions to computers—that seek to create expert systems for making predictions or classifications based on input data.” AI encompasses machine learning and deep learning, which implies “intelligent” progress in computer science and software advancement, ideally to make our lives better.
The Brookings Institution says, “Artificial Intelligence (AI) is an increasingly powerful form of digital automation, based on machines that can learn, reason, and act for themselves.” AI involves programming computers to do things that—if done by humans—would be said to require “intelligence,” whether it be planning, learning, reasoning, problem-solving, perception, or prediction.
Remote Freelance Writing Jobs, Compensation And Careers, Now Through 2028: NXP Exchange (NXP Writers Syndicate) Issues Its Forecast is an original (NXPExchange) article.
In recent years, Artificial Intelligence has been in the background, but even to
skeptical observers, the public release of OpenAI’s ChatGPT appears to have elevated AI to front-burner status. AI is quickly ramping up its potential to think and write like a human. In doing so, AI is posing a threat to outthink and outperform us by doing what we do more effectively and quickly, and less expensively. This is where NXP’s investigation and forecasting for the next five years have been focused. Will AI make the future of remote freelance writing jobsless predictable?
The rise of generative AI models
We are already living with AI, which generates programs such as Apple’s Siri and Google’s Alexa, but now, stronger AI is making significant strides in natural language processing. “And it’s not just language,” IBM notes. “Generative models can also learn the grammar of software code, molecules, natural images, and a variety of other data types.” In summary, this means that AI may be able to write better than we can. AI may soon be able to write this press release. Can it do so now?
Generative AI is based on deep-learning models that utilize an extensive base of information, such as Wikipedia or the works of Shakespeare, to “learn” and generate accurate outputs when given the right instructions.
AI will pose risks to educated professionals
As the adoption and advancement of AI technology progress, those forecasted to be most affected will be better-educated and technically skilled science and engineering professionals, those in legal, educational, and journalistic professions, as well as certain remote freelance writing jobs. In contrast, earlier advances in automation technologies tended to replace routine tasks performed by less educated, lower-skilled workers. Stanford Ph.D. candidate Michael Webb conducted research to quantify the exposure of occupations to AI and assess the broader labor market impacts:
“Our analysis shows that workers with graduate or professional degrees will be almost four times as exposed to AI as workers with just a high school degree.” Remote freelance writing jobs are high on the list of potentially vulnerable occupations.
Goldman Sachs estimates that 300 million jobs worldwide could be affected by generative AI, as 18% of work globally could be automated, with advanced economies being more impacted than emerging markets. The report also predicts that two-thirds of jobs in the U.S. and Europe “are exposed to some degree of AI automation,” and around a quarter of all jobs could be performed by AI entirely.
Forbes is more optimistic about remote freelance writing jobs. “Innovations in AI and Machine Learning offer tools that will continue to improve the writing of less confident communicators and the productivity of more experienced writers.”
Five-year forecast of AI’s impact on remote freelance writing jobs
Freelance writers tend to work remotely as independent contractors, not salaried employees. Their compensation varies depending on expertise, specialty, and reputation. According to Zippia, 70.4 million Americans did freelance work in 2022; 82% of this freelance work involved writing. The impact of AI on remote freelance writing jobs is projected to have multiple implications between now and 2028 when AI is expected to be a fully integrated component of writing and many other professions:
Indeed.com reports the 2023 average freelancer compensation in the U.S. averages $25.11 an hour; Glassdoor estimates $50,163 as the yearly income for full-time remote freelance writing jobs in the U.S.
Estimating the impact of AI on different types of remote freelance writing jobs is based on applications for patents filed for AI technologies and job descriptions from the U.S. Department of Labor, calculated by Stamford’s Michael Webb.
Blog Writers and Blog Publishers
Freelance blog content writers, traditionally paid by blog publishers, may be subject to an appreciable decline in compensation as much of their writing is projected to be replaced by AI. However, the publishers of blog websites who generate sales commissions through affiliate marketing and other advertising will be less negatively affected if they adapt to AI to improve the quality of their own written blog content.
Forecast: Blog content writers who depend on blog publishers and do not benefit from AI are projected to averagely earn $25,000 to $35,000 annually in 2028, a decline of 30% to 50% from 2023. Blog publishers who use AI to improve their output may minimize declines in income.
Technical Writers
Full-time remote freelance writers of research, scientific, legal, and academic papers and books—including textbooks—can anticipate an appreciable impact from AI due to its ability to gather, interpret, and report data. Many complex reports are expected to be constructed by AI in their entirety within relatively brief periods, and being data-driven, they will require minimal editing.
On a positive note, the accuracy and clarity of the reports and papers will depend on the quality of the instructions to the AI platform. This provides qualified remote freelance writers with opportunities to shift their roles from analytical writing to AI instructing, editing, and oversight. By 2028, the market for complex and technical remote freelance writing jobs will have stabilized, with AI playing the dominant role.
Forecast: Technical, scientific, and academic remote freelance writers who do not embrace AI in their work will averagely earn $24,000 to $38,000 in 2028, a decline of 24% to 48% from 2023. Those working constructively with AI may retain their current compensation or even see up to a 10% increase if productivity and writing quality are improved.
Non-Fiction Writers
The effects of AI on full-time remote freelance writers/ghostwriters of non-fiction will depend on several factors. The more technical the subject of their articles and books, the more AI will offer the alternative of a faster yet complete first draft. Non-fiction writers who anticipate the conversion to AI can remain viable by learning how to use AI productively rather than competing with it. This includes learning how to program AI with the most comprehensive instructions and being able to edit and improve AI-created drafts.
Forecast: Non-fiction writers who don’t adapt to using AI will averagely earn $28,000 to $34,000 in 2028, a decline of 34% to 44% from 2023. Those who learn to program AI and use it to edit AI drafts may experience a lesser decline in compensation.
Creative Writers
Freelance authors of fiction, copywriters, scriptwriters, journalists, and other writers who produce creative or personalized content should be less affected by AI. Unlike the human brain, AI’s “thinking” does not have the neural plasticity that evokes new ideas leading to imaginative, evolving content. Most creative-type output produced by AI is expected to be imitative rather than original.
Writers of fiction, poetry, and critical reviews of art and literature will be able to continue their remote freelance writing jobs, benefiting from using AI input to gather information. Similarly, screenwriters, scriptwriters, and newswriters will be able to use AI for research and as a useful tool but not be replaced by it.
Forecast: Creative writers who use AI productively will averagely earn $50,000 to $55,000 in 2028, representing an increase of up to 10% from 2023.
As we indicate in our forecast, the future earnings for remote freelance writers will depend on whether their talents are replaced by AI or if they will be able to integrate AI into their work to increase productivity and compensation.
About
The NXP Writers Syndicate (https://nxpexchange.com) is a fraternal and business society of professional writers, reporters, and journalists who share industry information and access to publishing outlets and editors domestically and internationally. The NXP Exchange is its website.
