The Workers Who Lost Their Jobs To AI (theguardian.com)
- Reference: 0177886089
- News link: https://news.slashdot.org/story/25/05/31/2247207/the-workers-who-lost-their-jobs-to-ai
- Source link: https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2025/may/31/the-workers-who-lost-their-jobs-to-ai-chatgpt
Gardening copywriter Annabel Beales "One day, I overheard my boss saying to a colleague, 'Just put it in ChatGPT....' [My manager] stressed that my job was safe. Six weeks later, I was called to a meeting with HR. They told me they were letting me go immediately. It was just before Christmas...
"The company's website is sad to see now. It's all AI-generated and factual — there's no substance, or sense of actually enjoying gardening."
Voice actor Richie Tavake "[My producer] told me he had input my voice into AI software to say the extra line. But he hadn't asked my permission. I later found out he had uploaded my voice to a platform, allowing other producers to access it. I requested its removal, but it took me a week, and I had to speak to five people to get it done... Actors don't get paid for any of the extra AI-generated stuff, and they lose their jobs. I've seen it happen."
Graphic designer Jadun Sykes "One day, HR told me my role was no longer required as much of my work was being replaced by AI. I made a YouTube video about my experience. It went viral and I received hundreds of responses from graphic designers in the same boat, which made me realise I'm not the only victim — it's happening globally..."
Labor economist Aaron Sojourner recently [2]reminded CNN that even in the 1980s and 90s, the arrival of cheap personal computers only ultimately boosted labor productivity by about 3%. That seems to argue against a massive displacement of human jobs — but these anecdotes suggest some jobs already are being lost...
Thanks to long-time Slashdot readers [3]Paul Fernhout and [4]Bruce66423 for sharing the article.
[1] https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2025/may/31/the-workers-who-lost-their-jobs-to-ai-chatgpt
[2] https://www.cnn.com/2025/05/30/business/anthropic-amodei-ai-jobs-nightcap
[3] https://www.slashdot.org/~Paul+Fernhout
[4] https://www.slashdot.org/~Bruce66423
Non sequitir in summary (Score:2)
"That seems to argue against a massive displacement of human jobs — but these anecdotes suggest some jobs already are being lost..."
The "but" in that sentence does not belong there.
i.e. There will be a small displacement of human jobs AND that small displacement is already happening.
It's happenning at my company (Score:1)
I work for a software company in the UK. About six months ago, they laid off about 50% of the R&D dept with the idea that AI can do the development work instead. Then in recent months, they took the axe to the services and support teams with the idea that AI chatbots can answer customers' queries. We've seen support teams of 10 reduced to a team of 2. Some support teams are now down to one person, who are having to manage 100-200 tickets for the product they are responsible for. Literally no contingency
AI Because we can, not because we should (Score:2)
Does AI do a good job at any of these? Well, mostly no, but that won't stop idiot bosses from replacing people anyway. I've tried every AI voice generator out there, the best sound a lot less robotic than they used to. But you can't actually get these things to "act" at all yet. Maybe if you're some VO for say, corporate training videos, you can be replaced, but that's about it so far.
Similar with graphic design, I just asked for some silly "4 screen folding phone with 8 cameras!" type stuff from every ma
Re: (Score:2)
AI does a fair job at voice acting and graphic design already, in a few areas, or those people wouldn't be losing their jobs. And a positive effect is that it makes those services available to people / teams for whom it used to be too expensive, like hobbyists and indie developers or creators.
The Last Human Revolution, is like NO other. (Score:2)
> Labor economist Aaron Sojourner recently reminded CNN that even in the 1980s and 90s, the arrival of cheap personal computers only ultimately boosted labor productivity by about 3%. That seems to argue against a massive displacement of human jobs — but these anecdotes suggest some jobs already are being lost..
No shit they're already being lost. We really need to STOP comparing this revolution to any other in history. Because it is like no other. Even the personal computer was looking to enhance human efficiency. AI and automation are looking to replace it altogether. Because AI is targeting the human mind.
AGI? Please. AI is being hired everywhere under the name Good Enuff. If you're not perfect, AI doesn't have to be either. And AI will work 24/7/365 without bitching about all that needy shit humans req
That sounds about right (Score:2)
Voice actors are screwed, that was a pretty niche gig that's gone forever. Graphic designers too.
And gardening copywriters? I didn't even know that was a thing so I won't be too sad about seeing that one go.
Re: (Score:2)
The Grauniad and Slashdot are already fighting to hire her to correct their comically bad copy.
She might even get a side gig as Dupe detector.
Please mod parent up, funny (Score:2)
I can't believe the Grauniad would want to hire someone to fix their only selling point.
Re:That sounds about right (Score:4, Informative)
And gardening copywriters? I didn't even know that was a thing
I'm guessing you're not British. We are mad crazy about gardening here.
so I won't be too sad about seeing that one go.
That seems a very reductionist thing, "doesn't affect me personally so fuck it".
Re: (Score:3)
"doesn't affect me personally so fuck it".
Spot on. Gardening Copywriter does not mean what it says directly. It means the person is a copywriter. Just happened to work for a gardening magazine. A information source written by people. If AI takes over all the text we are going to live on regurgitated stuff from now on. Like eating your own shit because it it is recycled.
As for "I am not too sad"? The guy is just a goddamn psychopath without feelings for other people.
Re: (Score:2)
Well no, not really, AI will copy the tone of the writers it was trained on, but you can ask Gemini to generate text for some current headline and it will. Unless you're arguing that the "tone" is regurgitated?
I think maybe you're not clear about what the latest models actually do (ground with Google Search for example).
Re: That sounds about right (Score:2)
It's more than the 'tone'. It says right in the summary that the new AI page just reads like an encyclopedia of facts now because the AI has no idea what people actually enjoy.
Re: (Score:2)
After reading the section about it in TFA, it made me wonder whether this site was a content mill, which is kind of the in-thing now for popular news sites and magazines of yore. If you look at old enthusiast computer sites and magazines like toms hardware, pc magazine, and countless of others I've long since forgotten, you'll find that bunches of them were bought out by content mills over the last few decades, and even when they're owned by different content mills it just looks like the same old shit. Thos
Re: That sounds about right (Score:2)
well, some people perceive AI slop as soulless and boring. They find the internet more and more empty, lacking human interaction. It is called the dead internet theory.
Re: (Score:2)
I have empathy for the people whose lives are affected, just not for the *jobs* that are becoming obsolete. Jobs can go fuck themselves.
Re: (Score:1)
Why such antipathy for employment?
Re: (Score:1)
> That seems a very reductionist thing, "doesn't affect me personally so fuck it".
It isn't reasonable to expect people to be worried about every single bad thing that happens on the planet, especially when they can't do anything about it.
Now, if you flat out tell someone, "I don't care that you lost your job", then you're being a prick. But there isn't anything particularly wrong about about not caring that someone lost their job.
Re: That sounds about right (Score:2)
But that's exactly what op said. He doesn't know what a copywriter is, so he doesn't care that he/she lost their job.
Re: (Score:2)
I suppose it depends what he really meant by "too sad". To me that had "fuck 'em" vibes. Like, I'm not too sad that Tesla's sales plummeted after Elon kept being a dickhead in public. And that means I'm spitefully gleeful. That goes way above and beyond not having energy to care about everything (which none of us do).
I can definitely express some minor sympathy about the abstract notion of someone I don't know losing jobs I didn't know existed and don't personally affect me especially when it's funneling m