There has always been an argument that although technology my destroy jobs, at the same time it creates new employment opportunities. So far there is little. evidence that Generative AI is creating new jobs, part from for a limited group of expert programmers and data scientist. But now NBC news has revealed a new source of work - to fix what Artificial Intelligence gets wrong.

In an article entitled "Humans are being hired to make AI slop look less sloppy" they report how as companies struggle to figure out their approach to AI, recent data provided from freelance job platforms suggest that demand for various types of creative work surged this year, and that clients are increasingly looking for humans who can work alongside AI technologies without relying on or rejecting them entirely. They say that alongside demand for more complex work such as content strategy or creative art direction the Fiverr platform said it has seen a 250% boost in demand for niche tasks across web design and book illustration, from “watercolor children story book illustration” to “Shopify website design.”

Similarly, thy say, the Freelancer platform has seen a surge in demand this year for humans in writing, branding, design and video production, including requests for emotionally engaging content like “heartfelt speeches.”

But its not just so called creative jobs for which there is demand. It seems programmers are also being employed to fix the mistakes from GenAI. They quote India-based web and app developer Harsh Kumar, who says many of his clients had already invested much of their budget in “vibe coding” tools that couldn’t deliver the results they wanted.

"But others, he said, are realizing that shelling out for a human developer is worth the headaches saved from trying to get an AI assistant to fix its own 'crappy code.'"

About the Image

At whose expense do tech development and tech companies thrive? The hands in the image suggest those whose lives and livelihoods are impacted by AI – including but not limited to ghost workers, students, those suffering from abusive deepfakes and AI-generated scams, residents of areas impacted by datacenters, those on the job market facing displacement by the promise of automation, and those seduced by the ELIZA effect of chatbots to make decisions that negatively impact their health and wellbeing. The water and wave imagery evokes the rising tide of AI hype (the “AI bubble”) as well as the environmental impacts of AI. Original digital illustration plus stock photograph; edited tech logo; and overlay from RawPixel.