A freelance writer for a company that produces memoirs for customers has shared their experience of how artificial intelligence has halved their earnings. In response to an article about the impact of AI on translators, the writer explains that they used to conduct interviews and then write the memoirs themselves. Now, they interview, a large language model writes the text, and the writer is paid half their previous fee to edit the result.
The Editing Burden
The writer notes that editing the AI-generated text takes as long as writing the memoir used to. Several factors contribute to this. First, the AI content is tedious and homogeneous. While the writer could ignore this, they maintain a relationship with often vulnerable interviewees. Second, the AI produces poor results when an interviewee is less than coherent, though the writer acknowledges AI is constantly improving. Third, the employer requires the writer to check for accuracy, presenting it as a quick task, but it is impossible without a full cross-reference of interviews against the draft.
Cynical Cost-Cutting
The writer describes this as a cynical and nifty way to get work done at half the cost. The agency pretends that the AI is genius and that the writer's part in the process is cursory. The writer wonders how many others in roles impacted by AI are still working but earning half their previous income.
This letter was submitted anonymously to share a perspective on the real-world consequences of AI adoption in creative industries.
