"Now I was actually out of a job because of AI."
New Lows
Will creative workers be replaced by AI? Some say yes, while others argue the tech will just give them new tools to do their jobs. But in at least some cases, the evidence that AI is replacing specific workers already feels compelling.
In an anecdote published by the Washington Post, a San Francisco-based copywriter named Olivia Lipkin recounted how, on the Slack workplace messaging app, managers began assigning things to "Olivia/ChatGPT" — referring to her and the chatbot interchangeably — not long after the groundbreaking program became a household name.
Though she used to be her previous employer's only copywriter, Lipkin saw her assignment count grow smaller and smaller. By April of this year, she was let go without explanation — though she eventually saw on Slack that her managers had been discussing how it was cheaper to use ChatGPT than pay a writer.
"Whenever people brought up ChatGPT, I felt insecure and anxious that it would replace me," she told the paper. "Now I actually had proof that it was true, that those anxieties were warranted and now I was actually out of a job because of AI.”
It's Getting Worse
While Lipkin's story and others like it are indeed egregious, they're far from alone. Last week, the Challenger, Gray & Christmas job placement firm released a report estimating that nearly 4,000 had been eliminated by AI in the month of May alone.
Though some folks have begun training to become "prompt engineers," using tech like ChatGPT to bolster their careers, Lipkin is not among them.
Instead, as she told WaPo, the 25-year-old has replaced her content marketing side hustle with dog walking as a means to support herself as she pursues creative writing on her own time.
"I’m totally taking a break from the office world," Lipkin said. "People are looking for the cheapest solution, and that’s not a person — that’s a robot."
More on ChatGPT and work: ChatGPT's Dirty Secret: It's Powered by "Grunts" Making $15 Per Hour
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