With the introduction of artificial intelligence tools like ChatGPT which is accessible to people around the world, we cannot deny that a couple of industries have been affected by it – content writing and copywriting being two of them. While on the one hand, AI is creating opportunities for some, on the other hand, it is throwing challenges at certain professionals to survive in this unpredictable job market.
A 22-year-old student from Kolkata named Sharanya Bhattacharya is one of such professionals who has been affected after the coming of ChatGPT. According to a report by New York Post, she claims to have lost 90% of her income which she used to earn working as a copywriter.
Earlier, Sharanya used to work as a ghostwriter and copywriter for a creative solutions agency while pursuing her degree. She used to work on a few SEO-optimized articles each week which earned her approximately 240 USD a month i.e. almost Rs 20,000.
However, by late 2022, Sharanya realized that the number of assignments that she was getting was reduced significantly. She used to write only 1-2 articles a month. She claims that her company began relying on ChatGPT to “cut costs” and gave her no explanation. Now she says she can hardly make 10% of what she used to make.
Her salary would support her and her 45-year-old mother, who sells sarees. She says that now they have to curtail much of their expenses which has become difficult, reported India Today.
“We’ve had to monitor how much food we consume, and we no longer do things we used to enjoy doing like going out to eat — we can only do that once every couple of months now. We’ve had to focus our money on the necessities, like food and bills, to make sure we can live fine,” she said.
She went on to add, “This is how I earn my living whilst also studying, I was devastated when I started receiving less and less work. I have been anxious, feeling lost, and having panic attacks, it has not been a very good past couple of months for me. There are a lot of good copywriters not just in India but around the world that are being affected by this.”
Instead of looking at AI as a threat, maybe we can look at it as a valuable collaborator. AI tools have the ability to assist writers with more time-consuming and complicated tasks. Even though AI can draft initial content, content writers can always refine the content with their unique voice. They can also produce more content in less time. There are also certain platforms that can be used to brainstorm ideas, derive inspiration, spot ongoing trends and gain valuable insights.
Human creativity, critical thinking, and unique perspectives are some things that artificial intelligence cannot fully replicate.