Yes, I can say this from my experience because I am a freelance writer on Upwork and Fiverr and things are no longer the same after ChatGPT and other AI writing tools. Yes, ChatGpt is taking away jobs – It has taken away mine
No, I do not have a new profile. My Upwork profile has been quite successful in the last 6 years. On Fiverr, I was a Second level writer with no dearth of writing offers. In fact, I have seen days when I couldn’t take up more work because I wouldn’t be able to complete it on time.
What’s happening Now:
I can tell about some significant changes in work on these freelance platforms.
Clients/Buyers have started writing content themselves 🙂
On Fiverr, one of my most dedicated buyers stopped giving orders. On asking what happened, he tells me that his client is writing the content himself. Strange – isn’t it. Someone who is not strong in English, has outsourced his work for last 3 years is now writing himself. It’s true – with the help of AI. His gain is that he is saving a lot of money.
Proposal Invitations Have Reduced on Upwork:
Being a top rated freelancer on Upwork, I would receive Job invites daily. This has stopped totally. I really do not know why – probably, buyers who were looking for writing assignments are doing the job themselves.
Clients are Asking for AI Generated Work:
This is one of the biggest problems we are facing. There are many jobs being posted for extremely low prices. Clients are asking for AI generated content with human touch. Obviously, when they are looking for AI generated content, they will pay less. So, where is the creativity going?
Jobs Being Posted But Not Hiring:
This is another strange phenomenon which I am seeing these days. There are jobs being posted – I am applying but the client is not viewing the job.. I do not know what is happening – perhaps clients cannot decide if they really need the job.
Job Postings Reduced:
This is one big change over all freelance platforms. Job postings have reduced which means those who were previously outsourcing their works have stopped that because they are getting it done by ChatGpt or other writing tools.
So, the result of all this is that my assignments have reduced by 80% and unfortunately I do not see it changing anytime soon,
What can the writers do now?
If you ask me, how I plan to tackle this change – my reply would be ” I don’t know”
Last November when we heard about ChatGPT looming over and how well it is going to write, we did not see this change coming. Yes, everyone said that any writing tool cannot replace writers because the tool is not creative like a human.
So, what? All clients do not need creativity.
They want to save money and they are saving.
No one cares about creativity and this is what is hurting content writers like me. No value for creativity?
Writers talk about adapting and using AI in their writing. Yes, I do understand that we have to use ChatGpt, but the problem remains about payment.
Must Read: Ai is fast changing the world
Fiverr Job Posts:
There are job posts where the buyers seeks a 1000 word article written by ChatGpt. However, there are conditions
- There should be human touch
- It should be well formatted with subheadings etc.
- Facts should be checked
- Keywords should be inserted
- Plagiarism should be checked with AI detector tools
And after doing all this the payment will be just $3 because it is AI generated. So, now the question is how does the writer get value for the work done? The freelance platform charges fees and there is a deduction when money is transferred to bank as well.
So, this is where the problem lies – writer is not getting value for the handwork they are doing.
What will happen to writers?
Honestly, no one knows where we move from here. I have friends who have 15 to 16 years of writing experience and struggling with low paying jobs. In fact, the market was already saturated because these days everyone wants to become a writer.
ChatGpt just put an end to everything. Only time will tell what will happen in the coming days, but if you ask me, I have no hope.
Read: Free AI writing tools
