E04
← Are We Cooked? · All episodes
Season 1 · Episode 04Meaning
the war between art and algorithms…

Are creatives cooked?

May 12, 2026| ~18 min listen|Solo investigation
99%Of creative pros
use generative AI
88%Say it ships
faster
87%Say quality
improved
-32%Freelance writing
income, YoY
2Stories.
Both true.
The numbers in this episode · Adobe 2025 × Upwork 2025
the setup

About this episode.

→ The hook

99% of creative professionals are using generative AI. 88% say it ships faster. 87% say it improved quality. So why is freelance writing income on Upwork down 32% year-over-year, the largest decline of any category?

Episode 4 of Are We Cooked? is about anyone who writes, designs, films, photographs, codes, composes, paints, or makes anything. Adobe’s 2025 data and Upwork’s 2025 data tell two completely different stories, and both are true.

inside the investigation

What this episode covers.

  • The Adobe Creators’ Toolkit 2025 + Upwork 2025 contradiction at the heart of the creator economy
  • The optimist case: the barrier to making is gone (Valenzuela, Anadol, Herndon, Neistat). Adopters earn 4060% more.
  • The pessimist case: when everyone makes, nothing means anything (Ortiz, Stiefvater, Newton-Rex, Miyazaki). Bottom of market collapsing 32% YoY.
  • What both sides miss, including the attention economy nobody is talking about
  • The split Anurag is watching across designers, copywriters, content creators
  • Three sharper questions for anyone whose career is built on making
skip around

Chapters.

louder proof

Sources cited.

Adobe Creators’ Toolkit Report 2025: 86% of global creators use generative AI, 76% report business growth acceleration
Adobe Creative Pros Survey 2025: 99% of creative professionals using generative AI, 88% faster output, 87% higher quality
Upwork Annual Freelancer Report 2025: writing projects –32% YoY (largest decline of any category), AI-related freelance rates +60% in one year
Brookings Institute 2024 (Hui, Reshef, Zhou): 21% drop in writing/coding listings within 8 months of ChatGPT
Walter Benjamin (1936), ‘The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction’
Karla Ortiz, Maggie Stiefvater, Ed Newton-Rex public commentary on AI training data and creator livelihoods
not a hype show. not a doom show…

Don’t miss the next investigation.

Are We Cooked? is a thinking show about what AI is really doing to humans: work, parenting, creativity, relationships. New episodes weekly.