Business
Upwork CEO Hayden Brown: ‘There will be plenty of work for humans, even as AI agents do more’
Good morning. Dayforce will today release its annual pulse survey of roughly 7,000 workers in six countries, showing that 71% of workers have not received AI training in the past year—even though 63% of workers say developing such skills is important. The result is that 27% of the workers surveyed say they’re using AI on the job, vs 87% of executives and 57% of managers.
Another fascinating front in the war for AI talent are the freelance platforms. On one hand, companies like Upwork and Fiverr have suffered as generative AI has disrupted simple contract jobs like copyediting and translation. But I recently spoke with Upwork CEO Hayden Brown about how AI is enabling the platform to win more business from larger enterprise clients. She cites research showing 63% of executives feel they don’t have adequate talent in-house, which may explain why searches for skills like prompt engineering rose more than 50% on Upwork in the last quarter. Some questions to think about:
What is ‘AI’ talent? Brown says there are 250,000 AI experts on her platform, 80,000 of whom are in the U.S. – “Companies are looking for creativity, problem solving, judgment, people who can move up a learning curve quickly as the technology changes,” she says, “so that’s leading to this AI generalist profile that is becoming much more sought after in our ecosystem.” As AI gets applied to different tasks, functional expertise is as coveted as technical expertise. And how do you know if those AI skills are real? Check the ratings.
What is the future of gig workers? The unemployment rate for Gen Z is more than double the national rate, which means freelance work may be a necessity as much as a choice. While the lack of benefits, risk of burnout and isolation are clear risks, Brown says the desire for flexibility is strong. “Younger generations don’t want to be tied to a single employer,” says Brown, arguing that a portfolio approach allows multiple income streams and lets workers “optimize around where the ROI is highest.”
How do the best leaders think about AI? Leaders who hire contractors to replace more expensive full-time workers probably view AI as another cost-saving tool. Those who instead see a flexible talent pool as a strategic advantage in building a dynamic and flexible company probably will fare better. Brown, for one, argues that “there will be plenty of work for humans, even as AI agents do more.”
Contact CEO Daily via Diane Brady at diane.brady@fortune.com
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Around the watercooler
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Jeff Bezos agrees with OpenAI’s Sam Altman: We’re in an AI bubble. But Amazon’s founder says the benefits will be ‘gigantic’ by Nino Paoli
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CEO Daily is compiled and edited by Joey Abrams and Jim Edwards.
