OpenAI-Upwork Report: AI Freelance Briefs 45% More Diverse

On Upwork, AI-related job posts carry a 45% wider mix of tasks than they did in early 2023. A report from OpenAI's Economic Research Team and Upwork, published November 10, pegs the shift as a move from about 14.6 equally common tasks per posting to about 21.2 by late 2025.

The story is not in the hourly rate. Posted hourly rates for AI-related work are nearly flat against the rest of the market, up only about 1.5%. What is bigger is budget and time attached: fixed-price budgets on AI briefs run about 52.4% higher and hours in the first 90 days run about 40.6% higher. "The finding is about more work attached to a project, not a demonstrated hourly pay premium," the report says.

Matching ChatGPT use between January 2025 and June 2026 against Upwork postings, the study then looks at where the two overlap. Across 63 work categories, 43 saw activities that are relatively common in ChatGPT lose share on Upwork; 20 ran the other way. Writing shows up more heavily inside ChatGPT. Video and animation show up more heavily on Upwork. One brief the authors flag asked for "AI-generated video, editing and motion graphics in a single delivery."

It lands the same day that Anthropic's Fable 5.2 cleared 41% of real Upwork projects in a separate benchmark. The joint post does not break out how much of the Upwork pattern is driven by ChatGPT specifically versus other tools.