A 22-year-old student from Kolkata, Sharanya Bhattacharya, has claimed that her income has plummeted by a staggering 90 per cent due to the advent of the artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot, ChatGPT.
The young woman, who was once a thriving ghostwriter and copywriter for a creative solutions agency, has seen her life drastically altered since the AI tool’s introduction in late 2022, reported The New York Post.
Sharanya used to earn a modest income of over $240 (approximately Rs 20,000) per month by writing SEO-optimised articles. This income not only supported her studies but also helped her 45-year-old mother, who sells sarees. However, with the arrival of ChatGPT, her workload dwindled to just one or two articles per month, causing a significant financial strain on her family.
The AI tool, known for its ability to synthesize text and produce human-like content, is suspected to have been adopted by companies to cut costs. This shift has left Sharanya and her family grappling with financial difficulties, forcing them to curtail their expenses and focus solely on necessities like food and bills.
“It has been really tough since the reduction in my workload – not just for me but my family, too,” the student said, as per the Post. “I can hardly make 10% of what I used to make,” she added.
“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.” Bhattacharya added.
The student stated that her life is now “extremely uncertain” due to the possibility of being laid off. “This is how I make a living while also studying,” she revealed. “I was devastated when I started getting less and less work.” “I’ve been anxious, feeling lost, having panic attacks; it hasn’t been a good couple of months for me,” she continued.
Despite her predicament, Sharanya remains hopeful for a future where AI and humans can work together harmoniously. She believes that while AI can assist with time-consuming tasks, it cannot fully replicate human creativity, critical thinking, and unique perspectives.
She urges companies to consider the human impact of their decisions and advocates for a collaborative approach that leverages both AI capabilities and human skills.
“There are a lot of good copywriters not just in India but around the world that are being affected by this. 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 22-year-old said.
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