'I got hired as a brand ambassador': Woman loses job to ChatGPT, starts selling water at grocery stores

Emiley Hanley stated that the arrival of ChatGPT slowed down the number of assignments that came her way earlier. (Photo credit (left): Screengrab from linked.com/emily-hanley).

The arrival of the artificial intelligence tool ChatGPT has sent ripples across various industries, but the editing and writing sectors, especially, has had to face the brunt owing to the greater ease of completing tasks using the technology.

Writing on Business Insider, Emily Hanley-a freelance writer and a stand-up comedian- stated that what she felt was a "sustainable career" as a full-time freelance copywriter was halted after ChatGPT started to gain prominence.

"I'm a writer and stand-up comedian. Like most creatives, I've always worked a day job. For the past several years I worked as a full-time freelance copywriter; I'd work on webpages, branded blogs, online articles, social-media captions, and email-marketing campaigns.

"I wasn't raking in the big bucks or living fancy-free aboard a yacht in Capri, but I was comfortable. For the first time I felt I had a sustainable career," she wrote.

She later wrote that things soon started to take a turn for the worse as her work gradually reduced. A conversation with her boss made her realise that the artificial intelligence tool had started to take over the assignments.

"The majority of my freelance assignments came through a single agency working with several brands. When the assignments stopped coming, I emailed my editor/boss to ask if I'd been fired or if all the brands had just voted me off the island, "Survivor" style.

"Clients were simply unwilling to pay for copywriting any longer unless that writer could also provide email management and a funnel-building system, most likely because of the newfound popularity of ChatGPT. Most of my clients were small businesses, startups, and young brands, which are typically the first to adapt to new technology to cut costs — aka me," she wrote.

After several unsuccessful attempts in getting a new role, Hanley eventually had to change her profession and started providing sparkling water at grocery stores.

"I got hired as a brand ambassador, which is a fancy way of saying I offer samples of sparkling water at grocery stores. I'm still applying for jobs, but in the meantime this allows me to keep the lights on," she added.

She concluded the column by saying that it was naïve on her part to think that "artists and creatives" would keep their jobs despite the arrival of automation.

Also read: 'Couldn't help but wonder...': ChatGPT answers question on Titanic tragedy in Carrie Bradshaw's voice