Just over a year ago it was everywhere in the news, AI also known as Artificial Intelligence. I knew little about it, how was I to know that in the future AI stole my job and crushed my dream.

Then ChatGPT appeared and people were having conversations with a human-like chatbot. At first it was funny and great when you’re trying to think of a word that means something or rhymes with another word, or even asking what the most popular pizza was (yes that was my first question to it!)

This opened peoples minds, and even though it wasn’t fully developed it was still a useful tool. People started to use this for writing content and descriptions, even though their information was only up to September 2021 it was still a convenient for getting information quickly. Although since it’s developed it is known that ChatGPT can now access up to date information.

AI Robots

For the first year it was out, I wasn’t sure what it was. I was working part time in a University research library, staff were talking about it and even though I was a writer and blogger I didn’t actually look at it for a few weeks. Why? It hadn’t occurred to me how powerful it was, it wasn’t till a colleague said that university students had started using it to write their coursework. That was when problems started, because software had needed to be developed quickly to pick up on this. 

All universities have implemented software that picks up any written work that has been copied, whether it be from a website, book or a fellow student. This is developing all the time, so I imagine it picks up so much more now.

My first thoughts were for all those students many years ago that didn’t have technology to complete work. Those that would sit in a library for hours on end to complete coursework to a high standard to achieve the mark they would need for their future career. I wonder how frustrated they all are, wondering how demoralised they could feel.

Companies were using it to write anything from job descriptions to articles for their websites, I tried it on articles and I was shocked on how quickly and how informative it wrote. All the times I’d spent writing articles after hours of research felt like it had been taken away in an instant. 

I was convinced by fellow bloggers that this would not affect my blog and website, a professional Copywriter had said that AI will not take the jobs of copywriters and I believed her. I had recently started a business as a copywriter after doing a course, I had clients and was creating content for them and updating SEO on their website. I was really enjoying it, and I branched out to give companies training.

Thought it would never happen

I always dreamed of a career working as a writer, then one day I saw it advertised on LinkedIn. I couldn’t believe my eyes, it was a local content writing job for a reputable company and it was as if it was written for me! I applied and almost instantly got an interview and within a week I’d been offered the job, I was literally on cloud 9. The only downside was that it was full time and I’d not worked full time for almost 8 years. I hadn’t quite felt ready but it seemed to fit, they were being incredibly flexible with my working hours so I could still do school drop off and everyone there was so friendly and welcoming!

Six blissful months of having this job, I was exhausted because I had so much on but I made it work and having a supportive husband and friends around me really made it. I was creating content for gardening, plant profiles, Christmas themes and writing product descriptions. I was literally in my element and had started to plan for the Spring publication.

The first time I realised something was wrong

I wasn’t getting the work that I should from our Marketing department, two new starters and one of them seemed to be eager to do everything. Which is normal for a youngster, she was good at her job and very enthusiastic. I was enthusiastic, but (obviously) not as much as her. Content that I’d previously been asked to write was no longer coming in, my work was getting thinner because they had started using ChatGPT more often. My role slightly changed and all of a sudden I was asked to update old content for SEO purposes.

Then one day I trotted off for a one to one, which was normal because I had these every couple of weeks. They usually comprised of what my work load looked like, and if there was anything more pressing that would need to take priority.

I walked into the meeting room and there sat someone from HR, my heart went into my throat and that was when I knew this was something serious going on.

“Don’t worry it’s nothing to worry about.” She had said.

“Please don’t take it personally.” My manager had said.

Redundancy – AI Crushed My Dream

This is my fourth redundancy in my lifetime, so I should be used to it. I knew exactly what it was, although at first ‘informal meeting’ they informed me that although they were making my position redundant they were creating a new one. I tried to be keen, even though all I wanted to do was run and hide. I pulled myself together and acted like I knew it was coming, I said that I would apply for this other job and already I was thinking of ways they could avoid making me redundant. 

I threw myself into lots of training videos that next 48 hours, I threw myself so much into it I felt like I broke. It was too much, I was trying too hard and I was forgetting what I was doing.

In the next meeting, it was apparent that they no longer wanted me. 

On a teams meeting (I was working from home because I’d had covid) they told me to ‘down tools’ and that was it. I shut the work laptop down and bawled my eyes out, how the hell could I come back from this? I’d had redundancies in the past, but why did this one hurt so much? Because I loved the job, oh and that other job they were going to advertise? The position was too technical and they had listed all the responsibilities that they knew I didn’t have the expertise for.

It’s been a couple of weeks since then, but because of the Christmas break I don’t think it’s actually sunk in yet. I’m trying to stay positive, trying to think of options but when anyone is in this frame of mind it’s impossible to think logically.

As many of my followers know, I originally started this blog as a diary and it’s come to be my only creative outlet till I was working as a writer. But now I feel like I need my safety blanket back, so I will go back to writing on my blog. 

I aim to keep up with news and trends, but getting a job is priority for me….wish me luck!