ChatGPT stole one of my clients that brought in up to $2,000 a month. I don't want to be cynical, but the writing is on the wall.
Daniel Alfonzo
- Andrew Neely is a freelance writer who lost a job when one of his clients started using AI.
- His work for this content-marketing firm used to bring in between $500 and $2,000 a month.
- He's still writing but also went back to school to pursue a degree in environmental studies.
This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Andrew Neely, a 30-year-old freelance writer from Denver. The following has been edited for length and clarity.
I graduated with an English degree, and for the last seven years, I've had my own freelance-writing business.
I write full-time, but never solely for one company. I cover a wide variety of topics, but my favorite pieces concentrate on climate solutions and inventive changemakers.
Until this year, one of my clients was a small marketing firm
I worked for a marketing firm for two years writing marketing copy. My editor, who is also my friend, set me up with an interview there.
The company I worked for has a wide range of clients, from shipping operators to dietary-supplement providers. They provided me with outlines, and I wrote SEO-optimized blog posts or email campaigns for them. I wrote between two and seven pieces every month.
We had a good relationship and I felt that I had a good rapport with the content manager.
The work dried up without explanation
In May, the company stopped assigning me work. Losing work sometimes happens because in this field, there's rarely a contract or limited recourse if my employer stops providing work.
It's natural for there to be an ebb and flow with certain clients: Some consistently request work, some request work for a month or a week, and others offer one-off or short-term work requests.
I found out ChatGPT was replacing me
Then the content manager accidentally tagged me in an email indicating they'd started using ChatGPT to write articles.
The content manager was asking someone to edit the AI-generated text, and that's when I knew they were starting to use ChatGPT to produce the content that, up until then, I'd been producing.
I reached out to the content manager
When I asked about it, the content manager told me they were experimenting with AI to write stories as a cost-cutting exercise. She also said they hoped to get me back on the payroll soon.
There was a brief respite where I wrote two or three articles for them over the summer, but since then, it's dried up.
The work from this client was a regular source of income
I understand that the nature of freelance work is that nothing is guaranteed but given that I'd had regular work from them for two years, when that dropped to no work, I scrambled to fill in that part of my income.
After losing between $500 and $2,000 a month, I hustled for a few months trying to find different work.
I found new clients and am still exclusively doing writing work, but most of it is for social media. It's often the more traditional marketing jobs that can be the most lucrative and help make ends meet.
I went back to school
I've gone back to graduate school to earn a master's degree in environmental studies, focusing on sustainability.
I don't want to be cynical about it because I still love to write and want to maintain my practice, but I worry that the writing is on the wall. After graduation, I plan to focus on urban planning and renewable-energy development in low-income communities.
The editor I worked with has since left the company
The editor told me she was not comfortable with the amount of AI-produced work they're using, so she left.
I'm grateful she put her foot down and said she would not compromise ethics when it comes to AI.
Solidarity among writers and editors is important
I've been a member of the National Writers Union for a few years, and I'm taking some comfort in knowing that writers are coming together on this issue.
It seems unique that the big AI companies are asking to be regulated. I think we need to listen to the big players when they say that this is powerful technology, and that it's probably more powerful than we can even conceptualize.
It's important to put parameters on it — especially when it comes to technology that can directly replace human work.
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