Upwork AI gigs cost more, mix more skills

43 of 63 work categories lost share on Upwork where ChatGPT use was strongest, OpenAI said in a joint study with Upwork. The analysis matched ChatGPT use from January 2025 to June 2026 against Upwork postings and tracked share shifts from 2023 to 2025. It frames freelance contracts as an early signal because postings refresh with each job.

The pattern is not simple replacement.

AI-related postings became 45% more diverse between early 2023 and late 2025, OpenAI said, rising from 14.6 to 21.2 equally common tasks. One brief asked for AI-generated video, editing and motion graphics in a single delivery. Chatbot development, video production, marketing automation and application integration increasingly listed AI use alongside other tasks. AI postings listed about as many tasks as other postings but paired tasks that rarely co-occurred before, per the report.

AI-related projects carried larger fixed-price budgets and more hours, though posted hourly rates were similar, according to adjusted estimates through April 2026 comparing the same work type and month. OpenAI said broader scope may explain part of the premium. That fits Upwork disclosure that its assistant Uma generated over $300 million in annualized gross services volume from AI-related work, up 50% year over year, as reported by Startup Fortune.

Upwork also reported nearly 50 million agent requests through its MCP server since its August launch with a 20-fold rise in weekly active users. The joint report cautions ChatGPT use alone does not explain demand shifts and does not capture the full range of tasks AI can support, a gap OpenAI calls capability overhang. If hourly rates diverged or task breadth flattened, the expansion story would weaken. Will clients keep paying for bigger bundles, or will they use AI to unbundle them again?