AI interest in Upwork surges dramatically
CALIFORNIA, UNITED STATES — Freelance talent platform Upwork reported that artificial intelligence (AI) was its fastest-growing category during the first half of 2023.
Generative AI job posts on Upwork rose more than 1,000% in Q2 compared to the end of last year, with related searches increasing more than 1,500% in the same period.
ChatGPT and BERT were among the top 10 AI-related searches by clients on the platform.
Upwork also noted a shift in search activity as businesses move from searching for singular generative AI tools to searching for AI applications and services, indicating that hiring managers understand more about generative AI and its use cases.
The top 10 generative AI-related projects for which clients hired freelancers on the platform included natural language processing, TensorFlow, image processing, PyTorch, AI content creation, and AI chatbot.
Kelly Monahan, managing director of the Upwork Research Institute, said, “The search terms companies are using and what they will hire for are evolving to be more sophisticated, and we think we’ll continue to see that understanding deepen over time.”
Upwork is seeing the talent supply on its platform rise to meet the evolving demand, which is impressive given how quickly this demand has appeared in the marketplace and the world broadly.
