AI F*ups: Freelancers find new income stream fixing machine-made mistakes. But how long will it last?

Companies turn to human workers to polish AI-generated content across multiple industries

The same companies that laid off human workers in favour of AI are now hiring freelancers to fix what their algorithms got wrong, according to a report by New York-based news site Futurism.

These AI cleanup crews span multiple industries and represent both an opportunity for displaced workers and a cautionary tale about the limitations of AI’s teething problems.

But for some freelancers, entering this type work out of financial desperation can feel like training your replacement. They’re also being paid a fraction of what they used to, and with longer working hours.

AI cleanup economy: it’s a thing now

Lisa Carstens, a Spain-based freelance illustrator, has found herself at the centre of this arguably counterproductive recruitment trend.

Speaking to NBC News, she relayed how she is fixing AI-generated logos with “fuzzy lines and garbled text” now constitutes much of her work. The irony isn’t lost on her. Some projects take longer to fix than creating from scratch.

“Sometimes the logos are designed well enough that she doesn’t have to do much work to get them into gear. Other times, the companies that hire her need an entire redraw,” Carstens explained to NBC. The challenge lies in maintaining fidelity to the AI’s original concept while making it actually functional.

Writer Kiesha Richardson, based in the US state of Georgia, has similarly found freelance work in AI content cleanup.

Despite finding the work “demoralizing,” economic necessity drives her decisions. “I have some colleagues who are adamant about not working with AI,” Richardson told NBC. “But I’m like, ‘I need money. I’m taking [the gig].'”

Half of Richardson’s assignments now involve rewriting AI-generated content that doesn’t “look remotely human at all.” Her tasks range from correcting AI’s overuse of em-dashes and phrases like “delve” and “deep dive” to conducting original research to fix unreliable explanations.

Tech sectors are recruiting AI clean-up jobs

The AI cleanup economy extends well beyond creative industries. Harsh Kumar, an India-based app and web developer, reports increasing demand from clients abandoning what he terms “vibe coding”. That’s when you use AI prompts to write code instead of traditional development methods.

Kumar’s projects read like a catalogue of AI failures: fixing chatbots that leak system details, rebuilding content recommendation functions that expose sensitive data, and addressing fundamental security vulnerabilities in AI-generated code. His experience suggests that in technical fields, the stakes of AI mistakes can be particularly high.

“AI is cutting my pay”

The financial side of this new economy is also highlighting a hard pill to swallow for human workers working alongside AI agents. While cleanup work requires substantial skill and time investment, companies pay significantly less for it than traditional content creation or development work. The presumption that fixing AI output is easier than original work doesn’t match the reality experienced by freelancers.

“I am a bit concerned because people are using AI to cut costs, and one of those costs is my pay,” Richardson expressed to NBC. “But at the same time, they find out that they can’t really do it without humans.”

AI-first approaches: do they make economic sense?

The fledgling AI cleanup economy raises questions about efficiency and cost-effectiveness. For many, it’s even cringey. If companies ultimately need human intervention to make AI output usable, the supposed benefits of automation become questionable.

Companies pay for AI tools, then pay freelancers to fix the output, often at rates that still undervalue human expertise. Meanwhile, humans who might have produced quality work from the start have been paid less.

The time factor also has to be questioned. Carstens reports that some AI logo fixes take longer than creating original designs, while Richardson finds that editing AI copy often requires as much mental labour as writing original content. Kumar’s experience with debugging AI-generated code suggests similar time investments in technical fields.

From a quality perspective, starting with human expertise might yield better results more quickly. Original work doesn’t carry the baggage of AI’s systematic errors, such as overused phrases, security vulnerabilities or fundamental misunderstandings that require correction.

AI’s limitations

However, the freelancers gathering work in this market see reasons for cautious optimism. The very existence of cleanup work suggests that companies are recognising AI’s limitations and the irreplaceable value of human expertise.

Kumar remains “confident that humans will be required for long-term projects,” telling NBC, “At the end of the day, humans were the ones who developed AI.” This perspective frames the current moment as a transition period rather than a permanent displacement. But as humans keep making AI smarter, that displacement could happen within the next 12 months for some freelancers in this line of work.

For freelancers facing economic pressures, the cleanup economy provides immediate income opportunities. While the pay may be lower than traditional work, it’s employment in a challenging market. Richardson’s pragmatic approach, which entails taking cleanup gigs while maintaining standards, represents a survival strategy that many independent workers may need to consider. As odd as that may sound.

Rather than a complete replacement, we may be seeing the development of what CEOs are coining “human-AI collaborative workflows”, with specialists handling corrections and quality control that current AI models or agents cannot manage.

It’s unnerving for anyone going through this. But it’s happening, so be prepared.

Which industries are active in AI cleanups?

The cleanup economy is active in these sectors:

• Creative: Graphic design, writing, and content creation show significant demand for AI output refinement, with freelancers correcting everything from visual errors to stylistic inconsistencies.
• Software development: Technical fields face unique challenges with AI-generated code, particularly around security and functionality, creating opportunities for developers skilled in debugging and security auditing.
• Content marketing: Businesses using AI for blog posts, marketing copy, and communications frequently require human editors to ensure accuracy, tone, and brand consistency.