Market Briefs / ai
OpenAI–Upwork study: AI work brings bigger projects, not higher rates
A November 10 study by OpenAI and Upwork finds AI-related freelance postings carry fixed-price budgets about 52% higher than comparable work, while posted hourly rates are only about 1.5% higher. The extra value comes from broader scope and more hours, and content-writing postings fell more than twice as fast as the marketplace overall.
Published
What happened?
OpenAI and Upwork published “The Rebundling of Freelance Work in the AI Age”, comparing ChatGPT activity with Upwork postings. After controlling for work subcategory and posting month, fixed-price budgets on AI-related postings are about 52% higher than other work, while posted hourly rates differ by only about 1.5%. Hired hourly AI-related contracts logged about 41% more hours in their first 90 days. The task mix inside AI-related postings became 45% more diverse between early 2023 and late 2025, combining tasks that were rarely requested together before. Content-writing postings fell at more than twice the rate of postings overall over two years, while video and animation grew by about a third relative to the marketplace.
Why it matters
Clients are not paying a premium per hour for “AI”; they are buying larger, bundled projects — a chatbot plus the integration behind it, AI video plus editing and motion graphics. Work people can now do themselves in a chat window, such as first-draft writing, is losing share. The study is descriptive: it measures shifts in postings, not jobs lost.
What should you do?
Package offers as outcomes that combine skills, and price them fixed-price on scope rather than raising your hourly rate. If most of your income is drafting copy, move up to strategy, editing, research and publishing, or pair writing with production and implementation. List concrete deliverables and the tools you use, so clients see the whole bundle they are buying.