New professions: AI creates a product in seconds, then a human fixes it for hours

A new trend has emerged in creative industries, with artificial intelligence (AI) tools generating products in seconds, leaving human creators to spend hours refining them. This shift has created a niche market for freelancers who specialize in correcting AI-generated content, often for low pay and under challenging conditions. According to reports, this phenomenon is growing rapidly, driven by the increasing reliance on AI for initial design work, which then requires extensive human intervention before it can be used commercially. The rise of AI tools such as chatGPT has significantly altered the landscape of creative work. Spanish graphic designer Lisa, for example, noticed a major change in her workload after the release of chatGPT in 2022. Instead of receiving occasional orders for logos and packaging designs, she began getting far more requests to fix errors in AI-generated outputs. By 2025, 90 percent of her inquiries related to logos and packaging required corrections of AI-generated content, which accounted for 60 to 70 percent of her annual income. However, the process was exhausting, with clients offering low fees and some projects requiring near-complete redesigns due to the complexity of the errors. Freelance platforms have also reflected this growing demand. On Freelancer.com, which has over 88 million users, the number of listings using terms like “fix AI,” “AI hallucinations,” and “AI errors” increased by 87 percent between August 2025 and June 2026, reaching 10,760. The majority of these were related to graphic design, followed by video editing, proofreading, and content writing. Similarly, on Upwork, the number of orders for fixing AI errors rose by 70 percent, while searches for “cleaning for AI” on Fiverr increased more than twentyfold between 2023 and 2026. According to Matt Barrie, CEO of Freelancer.com, smaller businesses and entrepreneurs using AI often create a preliminary version of their product, only to realize they lack the expertise to refine it for commercial use. While this approach saves money initially, the costs can quickly mount when preparing the final product for real-world application. For many freelancers, correcting AI errors has become a significant source of income. Florida-based illustrator Todd Van Linda started taking such orders in 2023 when his usual work became less stable. He fixes visual noise, improves clarity, and identifies issues such as extra fingers. Australian writer and editor Kym Dunbar says that cleaning up AI content now constitutes about 60 percent of her work. Meanwhile, her income from creating original content has dropped to roughly a third of what it was during the pandemic. The term “cleaning” can be misleading. Multimedia editor Nathan McConnell explains that he removes reflections from videos, corrects robotic voices, and fixes improperly rendered 3D models. For one project, he had to adjust approximately 100 humanoid animal images for tarot cards, each with additional fingers, two left legs, and other errors. Each image took him two to three hours to correct. Some AI-generated products require even more time and effort to refine. In healthcare, the influence of AI is also becoming apparent. Family doctor Rok Ravnikar notes that patients increasingly bring diagnostic suggestions and lists of tests generated by AI tools like chatGPT instead of citing information from online forums. He acknowledges that this is not entirely new, as family doctors have always faced competition from various sources of medical advice, including books, magazines, forums, and search engines. However, AI's confidence in its responses creates a different dynamic. Ravnikar emphasizes that the issue is not whether AI is right or wrong, but rather whom individuals ultimately trust when their health is at stake. AI can provide a comprehensive list of possible conditions, but a family doctor must determine the most likely diagnosis based on the individual patient’s circumstances. This distinction highlights the critical role of human judgment in medical practice. While AI can aid in consultations, it can also complicate them. Patients sometimes arrive with detailed lists of necessary laboratory tests or precise disease explanations, making it harder for doctors to focus on diagnosing the specific condition. Ravnikar recounts instances where AI helped patients articulate their concerns better, allowing for clearer communication. Conversely, he has also encountered cases where AI misled patients into unnecessary fear or incorrect assumptions about their health. As AI continues to evolve, regulatory bodies are beginning to take notice. The European Union has announced stricter regulations targeting AI systems, including those used in consumer-facing applications like chatGPT. These rules aim to ensure transparency, accountability, and ethical use of AI technologies. Such measures could impact how AI-generated content is handled, potentially affecting both the demand for human correction and the broader integration of AI in professional settings. The situation underscores the complex relationship between AI and human creativity. As AI becomes more integrated into daily life, the need for skilled professionals to refine and validate AI outputs will continue to grow. This trend raises questions about the future of work, the value of human expertise, and the evolving roles of both AI and humans in shaping the digital world.