AI adoption pushes white-collar workers into gig economy roles

AI enables the fragmentation of traditional employment

When buy-now-pay-later company Klarna replaced hundreds of customer service workers with an AI chatbot in 2024, it initially appeared to validate fears about automation eliminating jobs. A year later, the company reversed course—but not by rehiring full-time employees. Instead, Klarna brought workers back as gig contractors in what CEO Sebastian Siemiatkowski described as "an Uber type of set-up," where the AI handles basic queries while contractors manage complex issues.

This pattern represents a broader shift in how companies are deploying artificial intelligence. Rather than wholesale job elimination, organizations are using AI to justify converting full-time positions into fragmented contractor roles that lack benefits, overtime pay, workers' compensation, or minimum wage guarantees.

White-collar professionals enter precarious territory

The transformation is hitting knowledge workers particularly hard as companies seek to demonstrate efficiency gains from AI investments. Customer service agents, copywriters, financial analysts, paralegals, and coders are increasingly finding work only as contractors rather than employees.

According to data from Upwork cited in reporting by The Guardian, approximately 60 million Americans—39% of the workforce—already perform freelance or gig work either full- or part-time. Statista projects that number will reach 86 million, roughly half the workforce, by 2027. The fastest-growing segment consists of knowledge workers, not rideshare drivers or delivery couriers.

"There's no evidence that jobs go away, but there is a lot of evidence that as soon as you can dismantle full-time employment, companies will do that," Mary Gray, a senior principal researcher at Microsoft Research, told The Guardian.

Even healthcare is experiencing this shift. Hospital networks have begun outsourcing nursing staff to AI-powered labor platforms like ShiftMed, CareRev, and Clipboard Health. Nurses on these platforms report lower wages, competition for shifts, and having to provide their own equipment. At least 17 states now classify these platforms as "healthcare worker platforms" rather than staffing agencies, exempting them from worker protection regulations.

The irony of training your replacement

Research from sociologist Alexandrea Ravenelle at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill reveals how workers in creative fields are being forced into contractor roles that involve training the AI systems designed to replace them. One musician took work as an "algorithmic composer," creating musical loops to train AI. A writer evaluated AI-generated content for a major technology company. An actor participated in a project for a streaming service that would eventually reduce the need for background performers.

When asked about the existential irony, one writer responded: "This is the best opportunity right now for me. And if you can think of something better, let me know."

Why it matters

The conversion of full-time positions into gig arrangements represents what Ravenelle describes as "the rolling back of generations of hard-won workplace protections." As AI enables companies to automate portions of jobs, they're using that capability not primarily to enhance productivity but to reduce labor costs by eliminating benefits and protections. This affects business leaders' talent strategies, workforce planning, and long-term organizational stability—while creating legal and reputational risks as worker advocacy groups push for policy intervention.

Some workers are responding through unionization efforts. In March, California healthcare workers struck against Kaiser Permanente's AI use. In May, IT workers at the University of California voted to unionize, citing AI-related layoff concerns. Max Belasco, a business systems analyst involved in that effort, said workers aren't opposed to AI but want strategic implementation "not simply as a cost-cutting measure."

Lena Simet, senior adviser on economic justice at Human Rights Watch, argues that governments must act now to establish worker protections before the model becomes entrenched. "If this business model can only persist when exploiting workers, then maybe it shouldn't exist," she said.

These details were first reported by Arielle Pardes in The Guardian.