From Unemployment to Rebirth: The Hidden Truth Behind AI Replacing Human Jobs
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From Unemployment to Rebirth: The Hidden Truth Behind AI Replacing Human Jobs
An increasing number of writers are being replaced by AI.
Navigating Web3 tides with focused insightsBy: Thomas Germain
Translation: MetaverseHub
If you're worried that artificial intelligence might take your job, the world of copywriting may offer a glimpse into the future.
01. Wordsmiths in the Age of AI
Writer Benjamin Miller (a pseudonym) was thriving in early 2023. He led a team of over 60 writers and editors, producing blog posts and articles for a tech company to promote its data products ranging from real estate to used cars.
"It was a very attractive job," Miller said. "I had the chance to be creative and collaborate with experts across different fields."
But one day, Miller’s manager told him about a new project.
"They wanted to use artificial intelligence to cut costs."
A month later, the company introduced an automated system. Miller's manager would input article titles into an online form, and an AI model would generate outlines based on those titles. Miller would then receive notifications on his computer.
Articles that previously required original thinking from the team now revolved around AI-generated outlines, with Miller only responsible for final revisions before publication.
Yet after just a few months of adapting, Miller received news of "advanced automation."
From now on, ChatGPT would fully take over writing these articles, and most members of his team were laid off. The remaining few were assigned less creative tasks: editing subpar text generated by ChatGPT to make it sound more human.
By 2024, the company had let go of all other members of Miller’s team, leaving only him.
"Suddenly, I was doing everyone’s work," Miller said. "Every day, I open files written by AI, fix the robotic 'formulaic' errors, and complete tasks that once took dozens of people. It feels like I’m doing the work of an entire department alone."
"Mainly deleting redundant parts, making the wording feel less awkward, removing oddly formal or overly enthusiastic language. Compared to a typical copywriter, I do much more editing—but always the same kind of editing. The real problem is how repetitive and boring it is—gradually, I started feeling like a robot myself."
Miller’s experience reflects a broader shift.
In numerous industries, AI is taking over work once exclusively done by humans. While AI often costs less than human labor, early adopters quickly realize that AI doesn’t always deliver the same quality.
Now, employees like Miller are being asked to team up with the very AI systems that "took their jobs"—adding a touch of humanity to algorithms, making AI output appear more human-like.
If AI becomes significantly more efficient, this could be a temporary solution. If not, Miller’s story may foreshadow what lies ahead for other industries.
Will AI steal your job? It’s hard to say. We’re at an unsettling crossroads—some experts warn that superintelligent robots will soon replace most human jobs, while others believe the technology may never reach that point.
More commonly, experts envision a future where AI collaborates with humans rather than competes against them.
But on a smaller scale, some workers are already facing troubling consequences. If there’s one thing generative AI-powered large language models can do well, it’s stringing words and paragraphs together—putting some writers on the front lines of crisis.
Fears that AI-driven writing tools could take over jobs were a major factor behind last year’s U.S. writers’ strike.
With the arrival of AI tools capable of generating images, audio, and video from scratch, similar anxieties loom over other creative fields.
Copywriters who create marketing materials and other content for businesses are already feeling the impact.
In some corners of the copywriting industry, AI may be a blessing—it can serve as a helpful tool, accelerating workflows and boosting creativity. But for others, especially early-career writers, AI makes it harder to find work.
Yet some have noticed a new low-paid job emerging: fixing clumsy AI-generated writing.
02. The Double-Edged Empowerment of AI
Catrina Cowart, a copywriter based in Lexington, Kentucky, has worked on editing AI-generated text.
"We’re adding 'humanity,' but it often requires deep developmental editing," Cowart said. "We constantly have to remove fancy words like 'therefore' and 'however'—terms that don’t fit casual writing."
"Also, we must fact-check everything because AI just fabricates information—and that takes a long time."
Cowart added: "Humanizing AI content often takes longer than writing an article from scratch, yet pays far less."
"On freelance platforms, top pay is usually 10 cents per word—for writing. But revising AI content is considered editing, so you typically get only 1 to 5 cents per word. It’s tedious, painstaking work, barely compensated."
Similar examples exist across industries, where low-paid humans quietly support machines—from helping automated ordering systems to labeling images for training AI vision models.
But whether AI’s arrival is good or bad for writers depends on how people use it and their stage in their careers.
Some writers say using these tools during the creative process can actually improve their work.
For example, the American Writers and Artists Institute (AWAI), an organization providing training and resources for freelance writers, offers various AI courses for its members.
Rebecca Matter, AWAI’s president, said: "AI courses are currently our most popular offerings. For professional copywriters, the risk isn't that AI will take their jobs, but that they must adapt. It might feel uncomfortable, but I see it as a huge opportunity."
Matter also noted that for most writers she knows, the transition to using AI has gone smoothly. In fact, AI has become an integral part of the copywriting process. Many writers now include personal "AI policies" on their professional websites, explaining how they use the technology.
Rebecca Dugas, a copywriter with nine years of experience, says AI has been a "godsend," allowing her to produce equally high-quality work in much less time.
"I use AI whenever clients allow it—whether for brainstorming, market research, or rewriting paragraphs when I have a headache. It’s an invaluable co-creator."
As AI advances, Dugas expects more companies will turn to ChatGPT and similar tools instead of hiring human writers.
But she adds: "We need to recognize that if users don’t understand copywriting, they won’t know how to judge AI’s output."
"Talented, experienced writers will always find well-paid work, but entry-level copywriters may not be so lucky. Today, many in this position find themselves caught in a contradiction."
03. Collaborative Development
Much copywriting work comes from website owners trying to boost traffic via Google. However, Google made several major announcements last year stating it would remove "unhelpful" content from search results. This sparked concerns that the tech giant might penalize websites hosting AI-generated content.
Still, Google insists AI-written content is acceptable as long as it's high-quality, though such assurances haven’t fully eased concerns.
As a result, using AI detection software to scan text has become common practice in certain areas of copywriting. Over the past year, numerous writers have reported losing jobs due to false positives from AI detectors.
According to Cowart, many freelance platforms that use AI detection software are simultaneously hiring people to edit content produced by chatbots.
This means that in some corners of copywriting, nearly all work now revolves around avoiding AI detection.
"They sell AI content, pay you to fix it, and then email you instructions on how to write like a human so you don’t trigger their own AI detectors. It’s insulting," Cowart said.
"Worse, these detectors are regularly updated to keep pace with changes from AI chatbot companies, meaning the rules for what gets flagged as AI-generated are constantly shifting."
Miller’s “AI correction” job ended abruptly—on April 5, 2024, an earthquake struck New York, and he was laid off that day.
Fortunately, Miller soon found a new job—one filled with irony.
He joined a tech company called "Undetectable AI," which develops software designed to make AI writing harder to detect. In other words, Miller is now helping an AI-using company do the exact work he was forced to do after losing his previous job to AI.
Bars Juhasz, Chief Technology Officer at Undetectable AI, acknowledges that tools like his could negatively impact the labor market, but remains optimistic about the future of work.
"I think we’ll see many jobs replaced, and freelancers will be hit hardest. I sympathize with them," Juhasz said.
"Still, those getting paid to humanize AI are excellent opportunists. Of course, it’s not ideal work—but at a moment when we’re redefining productivity, they’ve effectively carved out a new niche. Those who learn to work with technology will thrive."
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