Transcription
Well, the rise of generative AI has led to concerns that the technology could replace workers across industries. But some people are now kind of flipping the script through a new category of work. It's essentially fixing AI's mistakes. And even though companies are trying to use AI to eliminate some positions, a recent report from MIT found that 95% of these generative AI pilots that these companies are implementing, they're actually getting zero return on that investment. Generative content can be riddled with mistakes that rarely make for a satisfactory final product. That is where human beings can come in. Writers are fixing AI writing mistakes. Artists are cleaning up wonky images and software developers are fixing app glitches.
Let's bring in NBC News tech and culture reporter Angela Yang. She spoke to some of the individuals that are taking on these tasks. Angela, good morning. It's so great to have you with us. Um, so I know you spoke with a graphic designer who says like business has boomed essentially thanks to AI and and in your reporting you had some of these pictures where she's sort of like taking these like absolutely nonsensical words and changing them to whatever someone wanted it to say. What did she tell you about how she's working with the technology? What did you learn from her?
Yeah, absolutely. um she's part of um a whole cohort of freelancers who say that they've actually found more work now that there are so many companies um using AI to do um basically tasks that end up looking really sloppy. And so for her, it can be sometimes frustrating when clients come to her and, you know, they feel really angry that their AI didn't give them the product that they wanted, but at the same time, they don't want to pay freelancers like her, um, the same amount that they would have paid if they hired a graphic designer in the first place. Um, and for her, that can be hard because sometimes these designs are so bad that she has to completely redraw them from scratch.
So, when it comes to humans fixing AI, how strong is the demand for this type of work right now? What industries are we seeing it in? And is there I guess a feeling that this is like like a part-time thing like eventually AI will be so good this won't be needed anymore.
Yeah, that's that's kind of um the question right now because interestingly um across all three of the major freelance platforms, Upwork, Fiverr, Freelancer, um demand has really surged this year for all types of creative work from blog writing to graphic design um to web design. So, across the board, we're seeing actually a lot more demand for um work that asks for sort of this human touch. Um, and so a lot of the freelancers right now, they say that they're not super worried about their jobs going away. But of course, the concern is, you know, what happens once AI does reach a level where it is really capable of producing these outputs without mistakes. But at the same time, a lot of these artists also say, well, sure, maybe AI can be technologically better over time, but can it really replicate that humanness that a lot of um artists say that they they're the only ones who can provide.
Right? Um the along the bottom of our screen right now, viewers might see it's we're calling it AI slop and make it look less sloppy, which is this term for it that it kind of like does this sort of, but it's like this slop that that ends up coming out. Do you think that that is turning companies off? Like as we do have this concern about people losing their jobs because this can take the place of a software coder or a graphic designer kind of are companies kind of starting to see, okay, this isn't really working that way and is it going to is it going to kind of reverse what we've been worried about?
Yeah, that's that's actually a really interesting point is that we've seen already when um brands, you know, put out an ad that's obviously an AI video. People notice that immediately and then if you, you know, see the comments on social media, it's like, why is this AI? People are not inclined to buy from a brand that is obviously using AI. It just it looks very low budget. it looks low effort and it looks like they don't value human labor. So yeah, there is also a cost to um using AI as a lowcost alternative to humans.
So interesting conversation that's not ending and in fact just keeps changing. Angela, great to have you with us. Thank you.
We thank you for watching and remember stay updated on breaking news and top stories on the NBC News app or watch live on our YouTube channel.