Upwork report says AI is reshaping U.S. skilled freelance work and the value of expertise
Upwork’s 2026 Future Workforce Index says artificial intelligence is changing how skilled freelance workers build expertise, choose projects and earn money, as businesses increasingly organize knowledge work around new AI-related capabilities.
Released July 14, the report combines survey responses from 2,400 U.S.-based skilled knowledge workers with data from Upwork’s marketplace. The marketplace analysis covers AI-related work categories, contract starts and trends in hourly earnings.
Upwork said the findings point to a workforce seeking greater control over three parts of independent work: how workers develop expertise, which projects they accept and how they monetize their skills. The report presents those changes as part of a broader shift in the value employers and clients place on knowledge-work capabilities as AI becomes more common.
What the index measures
The index brings together two types of information. The survey captures responses from skilled knowledge workers based in the United States. The marketplace data offers a view of activity on Upwork, including the emergence of AI-related categories, the number of contracts starting and changes in hourly-earnings trends.
Upwork also used an LLM-based process to identify and classify AI-related work. That approach allowed the company to organize marketplace activity around work connected to artificial intelligence, rather than relying only on manually labeled categories.
The report’s scope matters when interpreting its conclusions. The survey population and marketplace activity represent workers and work connected to Upwork; they are not a representative estimate of every worker or employer in the United States. The index can show how AI-related activity is developing within that setting, but it cannot by itself establish a nationwide employment trend.
A wider shift in workplace AI use
Other 2026 research cited in the public discussion of workplace AI points to a similar expansion in use, while offering a different perspective. Gallup reported that organizational AI adoption rose by six points in the second quarter of 2026. The most common uses it identified included drafting, information retrieval, problem-solving and communications. Gallup also found that frequent users reported broader applications across the workplace.
Those findings help place Upwork’s marketplace data in a wider business context, but they do not measure the same population or answer the same question. Gallup examined organizational adoption, while Upwork focused on skilled knowledge workers and activity on its platform.
SHRM reported that exposure to AI and automation increased over the prior year, while its estimate of employment at high risk of job displacement fell from 6% to 5.1%. Using May 2025 Bureau of Labor Statistics employment estimates, SHRM said the 5.1% estimate represented about 7.9 million jobs.
What workers and businesses should take from it
For independent professionals, the report frames AI as changing the way expertise is developed and sold, not simply as a tool used to complete individual tasks. Project selection, the design of specialized skills and the ability to explain or monetize those skills become more important as clients assess work in categories affected by AI.
For small businesses, the findings offer a snapshot of how freelance and contract work may be reorganized as AI-related services become more visible in the marketplace. Contract starts and hourly-earnings trends can indicate where demand is moving on Upwork, while the survey provides insight into how workers view control over their careers.
The report does not establish that AI caused any particular change in earnings or contract activity. It also does not show, on its own, that AI has reduced or increased total employment in the United States. Those questions require broader labor-market evidence beyond a single platform and survey population.
For now, Upwork’s index identifies a measurable change in the organization of skilled freelance work: AI-related categories are being tracked alongside contracts, earnings and workers’ decisions about how to build and sell expertise. The July 14 release provides a current platform-based view of that transition, while broader employment effects remain a separate question.
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