Much of the world is drifting into a state of panic as AI threatens multiple jobs and revenue sources, but at the same time, the fast growing technology is creating new jobs, jobs that will most likely bring explosive growth to the gig economy, as flexible terms could lead the incentives.
The gig economy was valued at $556.7 billion in 2024 and expected to grow to $1.85 trillion by 2032, as highlighted by a report on weforume.org – Nov 22, 2024.
Most freelancers or gig workers value flexibility, according to MBO Partners, as much as 63% of freelancers say they prefer a flexible work schedule to a bigger salary.
This is what's to gain from the transition to an economy and world powered by artificial intelligence. With AI taking most of the jobs generally requiring several hours of manual labor, much that will be left or freshly created will be jobs with great lengths of flexibility. Most efforts will go into improving AI systems and safely managing their operations on the necessary basis.
Data collection and labeling is one of those jobs that will grow the gig economy and Uber is looking to play a role with the launch of Data Tasks — a way for drivers to earn some extra income, on flexible terms.
Uber Technologies Inc. is giving some US drivers the option to earn money by completing tasks related to the company's data labelling business through a new job category called "digital tasks" in the Uber driver app.
The tasks include uploading documents or recording audio samples, and the payout will vary based on the time commitment of each assignment, with more tasks to be added over time.
The new digital tasks are designed to be simple enough for drivers to complete on their phones while away from their cars, and are intended to provide drivers with more ways to earn, according to Chief Product Officer Sachin Kansal.
Bloomberg report | October 16, 2025
When it comes to data labeling, we have names like Scale AI, which really stand out, given their involvement with OpenAI, a partnership that is reportedly being phased out, following an investment from Meta, the social media giant who's an active competitor in the AI race.
Meta invested about $14.3 billion for a 49% stake in the startup, valuing the company at $29 billion, according to a TechCrunch report — June 13, 2025.
Uber’s move to incentivize its over 8.8 million drivers to collect and label data for its AI solutions businesses is said to likely expand beyond just the company's drivers, to everyday people.
The rideshare company’s data services business, Uber AI Solutions, has been pitching its services to other enterprises, inviting them to outsource some AI development to independent contractors. Late last year, it launched a web-based platform to recruit talent in more than 20 countries for new types of gigs like coding and translation.
The company has been testing the new driver tasks in India ahead of the US launch, Kansal said. Uber may consider opening up such gigs to non-drivers over time, he added, though the current priority is to increase the earnings of drivers and couriers already on the platform.
Micro tasks, micro payments, flexible hours: the future of jobs?
With AI stepping in to cut costs and improve productivity through replacing humans with long work hours, while achieving greater results or positive outputs, the outstanding labor demands to keep the system up and running smoothly falls on micro tasks.
These micro tasks, such as data collection and labeling, come with lots of flexibility in working hours, and at the same time, micro payments are at the heart of the system.
There's lots of evidence that suggests the future of jobs will be micro tasks for humans (the greater population) to improve AI systems and that will be powered by a payment system that's scalable enough to power millions of micro payments every second, without risks of single points of failure.
The trend of finance moving towards the blockchain ecosystem through tokenization and the growth of stablecoin companies, reveals where we might be headed.
I think we can still have a couple of jobs that aren't so “micro” to be filled by humans but the broader population could potentially have to move closer to freelance jobs.
A great adjustment is expected!