Over the years, nearly 3.5 lakh tech-savvy youths have been earning more than $1 billion annually for Bangladesh, according to unofficial estimates. But their reliance on routine digital work now faces a serious test from artificial intelligence (AI).
Many of these freelancers sell skills in simple and repetitive tasks such as data entry, translation, transcription and basic photo editing to foreign clients through digital marketplaces.
For such basic jobs, their main selling point has been cheap rates. But as AI becomes capable of producing designs, writing code, editing images and performing other digital tasks within minutes and way cheaper than they do, local freelancers are now seeing their incomes fall by up to 80 percent.
They say foreign clients are no longer contacting them as frequently as before. And when work does come in, the projects often require fewer hours than they did before AI became widely available.
Digital service experts say AI is changing the freelancing market altogether.
A $10 logo-design job from a US firm may not arrive ever again. The client can now produce a first version almost instantly with an AI tool, and may instead pay a human $100 to edit and customise the company’s AI-generated multimedia campaign.
The experts say the shift from basic services to more complex tasks could wipe out many low-paid jobs while opening up more lucrative opportunities for freelancers who can make the transition.
UP TO 80% OF INCOME GONE IN INITIAL SHOCK
Several Bangladeshi freelancers interviewed by The Daily Star said the volume of work available to them has already fallen sharply, particularly for routine jobs such as graphic design, image editing, web development, content production and photography.
Emrazina Islam, who has been freelancing since January 2011, said her income has fallen by more than 80 percent following the loss of a major business.
“We used to serve a company from 2012. At one point, we had up to 15 people working for them,” she said. The company provided office space and laptops to her team, and its business expanded during the Covid-19 period, when the team also grew.
“But after AI came, our entire business was sold out,” Emrazina said.
The work her team had been doing, including graphic design, image editing and project management, was subsequently performed using AI.
Emrazina said the impact is not limited to design. Web development has also been transformed, with tasks that previously required large teams now being completed by far fewer people using AI tools.
She said freelancers relying on basic skills such as simple content writing, photo editing and data entry face particular pressure.
Photographer Yousuf Tushar, who has worked for about 20 years, said AI-generated images have taken away part of the demand for commercial photography. In the past, clients would hire photographers for product shoots, modelling and stock photographs.
Now, some businesses can generate images without arranging a physical shoot.
“Much of my income is gone because they think that if they need a picture for an advertisement, they can make it with AI,” Tushar said.
He estimated that his income has fallen by around 50 percent because of AI.
Tushar said the decline has been largely noticeable in stock photography, where clients have increasingly turned away from purchasing photographs for calendars and other commercial purposes.
He said the transition resembles an earlier technological disruption. “When we shifted from film to digital photography, there was a shock. But the impact of AI is much bigger.”
Kazi Mamun, a Dhaka-based freelancer with around 14 years of experience, said the number of jobs available in the market has fallen while competition for the remaining work has increased.
He estimated that his own work has declined by around 25 percent, although his long-standing direct clients have helped somewhat cushion the impact. His five-member team now focuses more heavily on finding clients directly rather than depending entirely on platforms such as Upwork and Fiverr — the two largest global freelance marketplaces.
“Many people have come down to half [of their previous work], 70 percent, or some have actually dropped out of the marketplaces,” Mamun said.
“Clients are trying many things themselves,” he said. “For smaller projects, they are no longer hiring freelancers as they did before.”
HIGHER-PAYING AI WORK OPENS UP
Instead of typical repetitive tasks, online freelancing marketplaces are now increasingly offering more AI-related work at lucrative rates.
Upwork’s research found that AI-related work on its platform grew 25 percent year-on-year in gross services volume in the first quarter of 2025, while prompt-engineering work grew 52 percent.
Freelancers doing AI-related work earned, on average, more than 40 percent higher hourly rates than those doing non-AI work.
But the effect is more visible in Bangladesh, as many entry-level service jobs in the country can increasingly be performed by AI.
“If someone becomes highly skilled in AI, that person’s future is very good,” Emrazina said. “And someone who does not know AI will be left behind.”
Fahim Mashroor, a technology entrepreneur and former president of the Bangladesh Association of Software and Information Services (BASIS), said Bangladesh should immediately focus on building a workforce capable of competing in an increasingly AI-driven global services market.
TRAINING NEEDS AN UPDATE, TOO
Freelancer Emrazina said the basic jobs that existed before will not have much of a future. Local freelancers need to develop logical thinking, problem-solving and project-management skills alongside their core expertise.
Tanjiba Rahman, chairman of the Bangladesh Freelancing Development Society (BFDS), said that while AI is rapidly changing the freelancing market, the bigger concern is whether the country’s training system is changing fast enough.
“Basically, all the training we are providing in Bangladesh… is basically at the entry level. Because of this, we are not getting work,” Tanjiba told The Daily Star.
The problem, she argued, is not that AI will eliminate all freelancing work. Rather, Bangladesh risks losing out if its freelancers remain concentrated in tasks that AI can increasingly perform.
She pointed to opportunities in areas such as mathematics, statistics, research and other specialised fields that Bangladeshi freelancers have largely not explored.
She also stressed that clients continue to value originality and human judgement for work where uniqueness matters.
“Two things need to be ensured. First, advanced skills; and second, creating mentors for the country who can keep people updated with the international market trends,” Tanjiba added.