22-Year-Old Kolkata Student Claims Her Income Dropped 90% Due To ChatGPT

A 22-year-old student from Kolkata recently shared how her life has completely changed since the launch of the artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot ChatGPT.

According to New York Post, Sharanya Bhattacharya was once a ghostwriter and copywriter for a creative solutions agency while pursuing her degree. She used to pick up a few SEO-optimised articles and earn just over $240 (approximately Rs 20,000) a month. However, her life changed when ChatGPT came into the picture in November last year, Ms Bhattacharya said as per the outlet. 

The 22-year-old revealed that by late 2022, her workload eventually reduced to writing just one or two articles per month and her company did not provide any explanation for the lack of work. She claimed that the firms who used to commission her work began to rely on AI, therefore, suspects the introduction of ChatGPT was to cut costs. 

“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. 

Ms Bhattacharya said that her income supports both her and her 45-year-old mother, who sells sarees. However, as the cash flow slowed, the 22-year-old said that she and her family suddenly had to “cut back” on living expenses. It has “been extremely rough,” she said. 

“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.” Ms Bhattacharya added. 

Also Read | “Need 4,000 Calories A Day”: Mark Zuckerberg Shares Crazy McDonald’s Order

The student said that now her life is “extremely uncertain” as she faces potential unemployment. “This is how I earn my living whilst also studying, I was devastated when I started receiving less and less work,” she explained. “I have been anxious, feeling lost, having panic attacks, it has not been a very good past couple of months for me,” she added. 

Further, according to the Post, Ms Bhattacharya highlighted the “huge difference” between human-produced and AI-generated content and urged companies to consider who is affected by mass job cuts. 

“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.