Freelancers are getting buried with ‘soulless’ AI slop cleanup: ‘It’s a shame we need to do it’

Since the release of ChatGPT in 2022, Spanish freelance illustrator Lisa has shifted her focus from original design work to cleaning up incorrectly generated content by AI. By 2025, approximately 90% of the logo and packaging design requests she received involved repairing AI-generated content, which accounted for 60% to 70% of her annual income. Despite challenges such as customers reducing prices, requiring rework of some designs, and concerns about copyright infringement risks, Lisa has rejected some of these orders. However, cleaning up “ Soulless ”content generated by AI has become the main survival strategy for freelance professionals in this field in response to market changes.