Science & Tech · AI · 11 hrs ago
AI leaves more graphic designers fixing and finishing generated work
French graphic designers and animators are increasingly asked to finish AI-generated visuals for businesses, rather than create them from scratch.
A study by freelance platform Upwork found that job offers seeking people to correct or improve AI-generated work rose 70% in a year.
Freelance motion designer Mickael says about a quarter of his orders now involve this kind of repair work.
AI images and videos can contain mistakes or arrive as files that are difficult to edit, leaving artists to redo parts by hand.
Mickael says an animation that he once charged €500 for now pays between €5 and €10.
Graphic designer Julien closed his agency after losing two-thirds of its revenue in a year, which he attributes to AI.
Human skill is still needed to make AI work ready for professional use, but the story gives no further details about what happens next.
More visual-creation professionals are being hired to correct, improve or finish work generated by artificial intelligence.
Freelance graphic designers, illustrators and animators say these tasks are often tedious and pay less.
An Upwork study from August 2026 found that job offers asking for corrections or finishing work on AI-generated projects had risen 70% in a year.
Motion designer Mickael says nearly a quarter of his commissions now involve this kind of work.
Graphic designer Julien says he closed his agency after losing two-thirds of its revenue in a year because of AI.
- Who
- Freelance graphic designers, illustrators and animators, including motion designer Mickael and graphic designer Julien.
- What
- More professionals are being asked to correct, improve or finish AI-generated visual work. They say the tasks can be tedious and less well paid.
- When
- The article was published on 8 November 2026. The Upwork study cited is from August 2026.
- Where
- The trend is described in the visual-creation industry. Julien is based in Montreuil, near Paris.
- Why
- Businesses are trying to generate their own visuals using AI before turning to professionals to correct or complete them.
This story does not have two clearly opposing sides.
Julien founded his graphic-design agency.
An Upwork study found that offers to correct, improve or finish AI-generated work had risen 70% in a year.
franceinfo reported that more visual-creation professionals were being asked to finish or correct AI-generated work.
- Upwork study
- Offers for correction or finishing of AI-generated work rose 70% in a year.
- Mickael's commissions
- Nearly one quarter involve a role he describes as being a “fixer”.
- Mickael's animation fee
- The lama animation once cost 500 euros; he now charges between 5 and 10 euros.
- Julien's revenue
- He lost two-thirds of his agency's revenue in one year.
- Julien's agency
- Founded in 2016; he later had to close it.
What people are saying
We are not here to be the little execution hands for ideas that were bad to begin with.
The work is not 100% finished. It is about 80% finished, but the remaining 20% is still quite tedious.
However, getting a professional-quality result, ready for production, still requires human expertise, judgment and quality control.