Veni, Vidi, Vici: The Freelancer Market Meets AI
- Andrew Flop
- Jan 14
- 4 min read
Julius Caesar once said, "Veni, vidi, vici" — I came, I saw, I conquered — after his swift victory at the Battle of Zela in 47 BCE. Fast forward nearly 2100 years, and a new conqueror arrives: AI. Unlike Caesar, this one comes with no clothes, just an ever-changing name. Yesterday it was LLaMA3:405B, today it’s OpenAI's o3, and tomorrow it'll be something else entirely. The difference? This conqueror is here to code—faster, without coffee breaks, and with just a bit of hallucination, much like a developer on a creative mushroom spree. Say goodbye to the "hard-earned" gigs that once filled our pockets.
The False Sense of Security
Many believed they understood Large Language Models (LLMs). They remember the early days, struggling with poor prompts on self-hosted models or experimenting with the first versions of ChatGPT. Sure, those early models were amusing but lacked practical use. They could solve minor bugs and configuration issues, replacing hours of Googling. However, self-proclaimed AI "experts" dismissed them as useless, confident that nothing could replace a true coder. For me, they simply replaced my search engine.
Some optimists claimed AI would boost demand for developers, not reduce it. Their reasoning? Faster development cycles would encourage companies to start more projects. But here's the kicker—why would businesses increase spending when they can get things done faster with fewer people? With corporate bureaucracy already struggling to keep up, adding more projects would only compound the chaos. The result? Fewer hires, fewer coding gigs.
Freelancer market meets AI
By mid-2024, things changed. New models like QWEN2.5 and LLaMA3 (70B, 405B) proved they could build entire applications with complex logic without descending into gibberish. Developers who once laughed at AI found themselves facing the reality of AI-powered code generation. Meanwhile, cloud-based models like Copilot and ChatGPT started to remove previous, frustrating limitations—line restrictions, placeholders, and throttled responses - allowing cloud LLMs to perform okay-ish as well.
Then came 2025, and with it, the game-changer: OpenAI's o3. It crushed coding benchmarks, sparking genuine panic among developers. The question on everyone’s mind: Is this the end of the road for developers, and even highly paid freelancers?
Digital development freelancers are often considered the best of the best, the last to become obsolete. However, that may no longer be the case as the freelancer market meets AI.
A Shrinking Workforce
Hold your horses—paradigm shifts happen all the time. Remember when the internet was supposed to kill paper? It didn’t kill the pulp industry; it just pivoted more to packaging and biomass production. But here’s the scary part—disruption usually creeps up when least expected. What if AI doesn't just change the game but breaks it completely?
Imagine this scenario:
Coders: Junior developers become obsolete. Prompt engineers and LLM reviewers take their place, but how many of them do we really need in a project (anymore)?
Project Managers: With AI generating projects and test data in minutes, why hire more (or even retain) managers to oversee simpler, smaller-scale projects?
UI Designers: AI can generate dozens of UI proposals instantly, adhering to brand guidelines without the back-and-forth with a human UI/UX designer.
Art Directors: No more, "I'll need two days for a few concepts." Just run AI and pick the best from hundreds of iterations.
Paper Pushers: Presentations? AI can handle that in minutes, tone and imagery included.
In a mild scenario, the workforce could shrink by 50%. So, what happens to displaced professionals? Coding gigs turn into OnlyFans subscriptions, TikTok hustle, or chasing influencer dreams?
Economic Impact: A Middle-Class Meltdown
If the middle class takes the hit, the fallout is serious. No more new cars, luxury vacations, or subscription overload. A downward spiral starts, impacting housing markets and consumer spending. Historically, when the middle class gets steamrolled, it triggers social upheaval. Will governments step in with universal basic income or social welfare? Should we freelancers just cash in while we still can? (Well, of course.)
Who Wins, Who Loses?
Corporations were quick to adopt AI, handing out Copilot subscriptions to developers en masse. Initially, many devs ignored it, clinging to outdated notions of AI's capabilities. But by late 2024, the skeptics had to admit—AI was a game-changer. Developers were silently banking the benefits: taking tasks estimated at three days and completing them in hours, then spending the rest of their time gaming or chilling. Productivity skyrocketed, but transparency didn’t.
Tech Titans Forecast What's Ahead
If you think this is all speculation, think again. Industry giants have been sounding the alarm:
Mark Zuckerberg: AI is already an excellent mid-level engineer. Watch here
Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff: Hiring freezes loom as companies transition from predictive AI to agentic AI. Watch here
Satya Nadella: SaaS applications are on borrowed time, reducing demand for traditional development. Watch here
If AI can track projects, detect bugs, and deploy code, what role is left for developers, DevOps consultants, or project managers? Or applications such as Jira. The writing is on the wall—prepare for significant industry changes.
Waiting for The Freelancer's Survival Guide
So, what now? Freelancers need to adapt, pivot, and find their niche within AI-driven workflows. Whether it’s mastering prompt engineering, AI governance, or advisory roles, the key is staying ahead of the curve. But to be honest, the number of job openings will be small.
In the words of Corporal Hicks from Aliens II, "Game over, man, game over!" Or is it? Insert the usual explanation of how AI will add new jobs and new roles here.
