Welcome, and one important note first
Hi, and welcome! If you make your living from creative work, or you'd like to, you've probably felt a knot in your stomach about AI. Will it take your clients? Is it already using your work? Those are fair worries, and we'll take them one at a time over this course.
First, though, something we need to be clear about. This course gives you general information, not legal advice. It explains how things usually work, mostly in the UK, with the US in outline. Your own situation might be different.
So when would you need a real professional? Here are some examples. Someone's using your work without permission and you're thinking about taking action. A client sends you a contract with AI clauses you don't understand. You're about to sign over rights to a big project. In moments like these, talk to a qualified solicitor or lawyer, or get advice through your union or professional body. Think of this course as a map. It's not a guide who knows your exact path.
Why dates matter so much
Here's the thing about AI and creative jobs. Everyone has an opinion, and lots of those opinions get passed around as if they were facts.
So let's learn to sort what we hear into three boxes.
- Dated evidence: something was measured, by named people, over a stated period.
- Informed estimates: a serious forecast by people who know the field. It's useful, but it's still a guess about the future.
- Hype: a bold claim with no date, no source and no method. "AI will replace all designers by next year!" goes straight in this box.
Notice that hype can be cheerful or gloomy. "AI changes nothing" is just as unsupported as "creatives are finished."
What the evidence actually shows
Let's look at some real numbers, with their dates.
Writing and images on freelance platforms. Researchers Xiang Hui, Oren Reshef and Luofeng Zhou studied freelancers on Upwork. After ChatGPT came out in November 2022, writing freelancers saw monthly jobs fall by about 2% and monthly earnings by about 5.2%. After image tools such as DALL-E 2 and Midjourney came out in 2022, image freelancers saw jobs fall by about 3.7% and earnings by about 9.4%. Surprisingly, top-rated freelancers weren't protected. If anything, they were hit a bit harder.
A second study, by Ozge Demirci, Jonas Hannane and Xinrong Zhu, found that job posts for automation-prone work such as writing and coding fell by about 21% within eight months of ChatGPT's launch. Image-related posts fell by about 17% after image generators arrived. Here's a twist worth remembering, though. The jobs that were left tended to be more complex and better paid.
Illustration and translation. In January 2024, the UK's Society of Authors surveyed its members and got 787 responses. About 26% of illustrators and 36% of translators said they'd already lost work to generative AI.
Voice work. In the US, SAG-AFTRA's video game performers went on strike from July 2024 to July 2025, largely over AI. The deal they ratified requires consent and disclosure before a performer's digital replica can be used. That tells you voice and performance work is under real pressure. It also tells you collective action can win protections.
Music. In December 2024, CISAC, the global body for authors' societies, published a study estimating that music creators could have 24% of their revenues at risk by 2028. Notice the box this one goes in. It's an informed estimate, not a measurement.
Where the picture is still uncertain
Now for the honest part. We don't know how all of this ends.
Most of the hard data comes from online freelance platforms, where small, quick jobs are easiest to swap for AI. Agency work, long client relationships and commissions based on personal taste are much harder to measure. For photography and design, there's less solid research, so be wary of anyone who sounds certain either way.
The tools also change every few months. A study from 2023 shows you a snapshot, not a forecast. That's exactly why the date matters.
Mapping your own field
So, where does the pressure land in your work? Here's a useful pattern from the evidence. Pressure tends to be highest on work that's quick, generic, low-budget and judged mainly on "good enough": stock-style images, filler copy, simple logos, background music for libraries.
It tends to be lowest on work that depends on trust, taste, a specific human voice, or someone who's accountable for the result: a long-standing client's brand identity, a portrait session, a live performance, a book written in your own style.
Let's try it. Say you're an illustrator. Spot illustrations for blog posts? High pressure. A children's book series with a publisher who loves your style? Lower pressure, though not zero. Your practical action for this level: write down your three main types of paid work and mark each one high, medium or low pressure. Next to each, jot down one piece of evidence or one honest "I'm not sure." We'll build on this map later in the course.
Key takeaways
- This course is general information, not legal advice. For disputes, big contracts or rights deals, see a qualified professional or your union.
- Sort claims into dated evidence, informed estimates and hype, and always check the date and the source.
- Studies from 2023 and 2024 show measurable drops in freelance writing and image work, and losses reported by illustrators and translators.
- Forecasts, like CISAC's figure for music by 2028, are estimates, not facts.
- Pressure is highest on quick, generic work and lowest on work built on trust, taste and accountability.