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Most people I know have asked themselves some version of “Is AI replacing me?” It’s a fair question.
But, running a solo business, I think the question extends beyond “Is AI replacing the work I do?” It’s also impacted the way clients interact with the people they hire.
Clients expect AI to make your work cheaper
Some companies are really moving their budgets away from hiring people to AI. The Ramp Economics Lab tracked how businesses split their spending between freelance marketplaces and AI model providers. Among the companies it studied, the share of spend going to freelance marketplaces dropped from 0.66% in the fourth quarter of 2021 to 0.14% in the third quarter of 2025. Over the same time period, the share going to AI model providers climbed from zero to nearly 3%.
How far that shift goes varies from company to company and the type of service provided. But clients know AI is cheaper (Ramp’s data bears that out). As a result, some clients may expect to pay less for human work. I suspect this is because they think that if AI allows the solopreneur to work faster, then they, the client, should get some benefit.
I don’t think solopreneurs should drop their rates to compete with AI, because that devalues the end result that the client is paying for. If a client’s budget has shrunk, you might cut the scope before you reduce your rates. You could also offer more flexible terms, like ad hoc or on-demand work, so a client with a tight budget can still bring you in when they need you.
When a client runs your work through AI
Clients now have a free “second opinion” on everything you deliver. They can paste your work into a chatbot and ask for a critique, and the answer will sound confident (even if it’s confidently wrong). AI feedback also tends to be generic. It can misunderstand the project’s goals or what the client hired you for—forcing you to respond to a robot’s assessment.
It helps to cover AI upfront, either during a discovery call or in the contract. You might explain how you use AI yourself and how you respond to requests for changes to the deliverables.
I know some solopreneurs who let clients know that they won’t consider AI-generated feedback, like a long email that was clearly written by AI. Whether or not you go that far, the scope of the project should clearly limit how much feedback gets incorporated into any revisions you make.
Getting found when everyone’s outreach sounds like AI
Cold pitches and social posts are now full of AI-generated content, so the usual ways of finding clients don’t work as well.
I’m on the receiving end of many cold pitches, and my inbox is now flooded with emails written by AI. I also used to find clients for my business through LinkedIn, but it feels impossible at times to stand out among the “noise.”
These days, personal connections reign supreme. It feels like the only surefire way to make sure you break through the AI content: having people who know you, understand what you do, can vouch for your work, and are willing to refer you.
The effort it takes to connect with people on a human level also goes further when so much of the outreach around you sounds like it came from the same template.
The clients worth keeping want a human collaborator
The people and companies trying to replace work with AI aren’t necessarily a fit for you anyway. They don’t value the human aspect of that particular type of work, and you’re not going to convince them otherwise. It might mean the pool of potential clients is smaller, in addition to a more challenging environment to find clients in the first place. Put it all together, and it’s a stressful time to run a business.
But if you can find the right clients, they’ll appreciate you more. My own clients hire me for judgment and expertise, and they still want a person behind that work.
Most strategic surprises aren’t really surprises. Somebody inside the company almost always saw the signal early. The question is why the organization didn’t do anything useful with those insights while there was still time.
I think of …
James Talarico is now Texas’ first elected Democratic Senator in nearly four decades. And it all started when one struggling student’s story inspired him.
