A study published in Management Science found demand for some freelance writing and coding work fell after ChatGPT launched. Companies have been laying off developers left and right.

However, job listings for correcting AI-generated work increased by 87% on Freelancer.com from August 2025 to June 2026, totaling 10,760 posts globally, according to internal platform data the Guardian reported. Upwork shared a 70% year-over-year rise in AI remediation jobs. Fiverr noted that searches for “AI cleanup” services grew more than 20-fold from 2023 to 2026.

The report highlights designers, writers, and video editors who are starting to spend much of their time refining outputs from tools like ChatGPT and Claude. Their common complaint is that clients often budget these repairs as quick and inexpensive, even though the work may require as much effort as starting anew.

Todd Van Linda, a full-time illustrator in Florida, told the outlet one client offered about $500 to repair 13 to 15 AI-generated illustrations for a children’s book and expected each to take about 15 minutes. He turned it down. 

Nathan McConnell, a multimedia editor who freelances on the side, said he spent two to three hours in Photoshop on each card in a roughly 100-image AI-generated tarot deck with extra fingers and two left feet.

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