How freelance marketers actually feel about AI

What 93 marketers told me, and what I've figured out on my own.

I vividly remember a former manager instructing me, “Just use AI to write them!” “Them” being LinkedIn posts for my employer as part of a broader effort to drive more awareness in the cheapest way possible.

Though my gut reaction was a firm NO, I obliged and started posting ChatGPT-composed content (but not before some heavy-handed editing).

Only in hindsight do I understand I wasn’t simply resisting AI. I was resisting what AI represented in that moment: a shortcut to producing output for the sake of more, not better — strategy be damned.

Fast forward about a year and a half: today, I’m self-employed and working with five clients. I use Claude multiple times a day, every day. I attended Grace Clarke’s class, AI for Normal People. I downloaded Cowork and have been discovering new use cases every week.

My adoption has been partly driven by anxiety — as a marketer, I don’t have the privilege of opting out — and by selfishness: I want to be more efficient now that I’m in full control of my time.

I’ve also become nosy about how other marketers are using these tools. Obviously, I want to understand how my adoption stacks up. Maybe less obviously, I want someone to give me the answers; to show me a use case I’ve never thought of that will change my life. It hasn’t happened yet, but I’ll let you know if it does. (I’m not above the human urge to seek shortcuts.)

A few weeks ago, my curiosity led me to create a survey on how marketers are using AI. The majority of respondents were self-employed, and I noticed an interesting split between their opinions on AI and those in full-time jobs. Adopting AI because your boss mandated it is a completely different energy than choosing it yourself.

Now for the survey results.

Freelancers are more excited and less conflicted about AI than full-timers.

61% of freelancers feel excited about AI, compared to 50% of full-timers. That might be because freelancers are choosing to adopt the technology (45% say they experience no external pressure), while 75% of full-timers report experiencing moderate to heavy pressure from leadership.

Recently, a friend told me her CEO essentially “instilled the fear of god” in his employees — that if they don’t adapt, they’ll be pushed out. I’m not sure that’s an effective motivation tactic, but what do I know?

Full-timers are significantly more worried about job elimination.

28% of full-time respondents expect AI to eliminate a significant number of marketing roles. Only 12% of freelancers said the same. And 29% of freelancers think the changes will be mostly positive, compared with just 14% of full-timers. It seems like marketers in“stable” 9-5 jobs are more worried about how technology will reshape their industry.

But AI is changing scopes and rates for freelancers.

One freelance copywriter shared, “I’ve gone from charging 2 weeks’ worth of work for a white paper to being expected to write it in 2 days.”

Another wrote, “I'm concerned about the perception of how long things take with AI. I've generally moved away from charging hourly, but I'm following consultants in lots of disciplines to see how they navigate this charging for time vs. value conversation that AI is distorting."

I’m right there with them. I’m trying to move away from hourly billing because AI has made me more efficient. That said, I’m still delivering the same, if not greater value. I’ll report back on this endeavor later when I have learnings to share.

AI is what allows freelancers to operate as a “team of one.”

Freelancers are using AI to fill roles they don’t want to, or can’t, hire for: a statistician, a developer, a research team, a compliance checker. One person is running statistical analyses they used to pay a specialist for. Another built a social metrics dashboard to replace SaaS subscriptions. Someone else built outreach agents because they have no sales team. One respondent put it best: she’s training agents to act as her ‘faux team.’

How I’m using AI in my day-to-day work

Now I’m going to tell you exactly how I’ve been using Claude and Cowork to support my client work. Though I’m a true generalist, I now focus on three specific areas of marketing: email/retention, brand strategy, and brand marketing.

I hope this goes without saying, but I never share anything Claude produces for me without first reading and validating it. I almost treat it like a fresh-out-of-college employee — I know I need to give it super clear instructions, and I always check its work.

Below, I’m sharing 12 ways I use Claude and Cowork in my day-to-day for paid subs. I think this will be most useful to anyone who works in the same areas I do: email, brand strategy, and brand marketing.