As AI Revolutionizes The World, Copywriters In India Feel The Heat And The Hit To Their Jobs!

When the artificial intelligence revolution began in the market, debates started that it may take up people's jobs. In a recent incident, a 22-year-old copywriter from Kolkata is its latest victim, reported New York Post on 2 August.

According to the report, Sharanya Bhattacharya – once a ghostwriter and copywriter for a creative solutions agency – now earns only 10 percent of what she used to earn earlier – all thanks to ChatGPT. Before ChatGPT's introduction by the firm, she used to earn around $240 a month by picking up a few SEO-optimized articles each week.

But by late 2022, her firm started using ChatGPT and did not explain the lack of work. She suspects the introduction of ChatGPT was to cut costs, adds the report. “It has been tough since the reduction in my workload — not just for me but my family, too. I can hardly make 10% of what I used to make," NYPost quoted the Kolkata student as saying.

She used to support her and her mother, Bandana, 45, who sells sarees. Now with decreased income, the family has been forced to 'cut back' heavily on living expenses. “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," said Bhattacharya. She is a postgraduate biological science student at the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research.

“We’ve had to focus our money on the necessities, like food and bills, to make sure we can live fine," she adds. Facing potential unemployment in a 'cut throat' job market for copywriters, she said, "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, having panic attacks, it has not been a very good past couple of months for me," she added.

Bhattacharya highlighted the difference between human-produced work and AI-generated content to firms urging them to consider who is affected by mass job cuts. Though is not alone to have been affected by AI Revolution. “There are a lot of good copywriters not just in India but around the world that are being affected by this," she said. She added, “I hope there will be a way in the future where humans can incorporate AI with their copyrighting skills to work together to yield overall, better results."

(The author is a freelance writer and a regular contributor to TNA)