Willison on Merchant's "Copywriters reveal how AI has decimated their industry"
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Re: Willison on Merchant's "Copywriters reveal how AI has decimated their industry"
#2I'm a full time copywriter for SaaS companies and I'm actually finding the opposite. My experience is people are having AI write stuff then trying to massage it themselves. When they can't get it to a point where they're happy with it they eventually just throw up their hands and hire me for pre-AI project scopes with 2025 rates. Not saying that's the experience everywhere, but AI has been much less problematic for me than most of the narratives I've seen online (knock on wood)
Re: Willison on Merchant's "Copywriters reveal how AI has decimated their industry"
#3I'm a full time copywriter for SaaS companies and I'm actually finding the opposite. My experience is people are having AI write stuff then trying to massage it themselves. When they can't get it to a point where they're happy with it they eventually just throw up their hands and hire me for pre-AI project scopes with 2025 rates. Not saying that's the experience everywhere, but AI has been much less problematic for m…
That's interesting.
A problem I have with Brian Merchant's reporting on this is that he put out a call for stories from people who have lost their jobs to AI and so that's what he got.
What's missing is a clear indication of the size of this problems. Are there a small number of copywriters who have been affected in this way or is it endemic to the industry as a whole?
I'd love to see larger scale data on this. As far as I can tell (from a quick ChatGPT search session) freelance copywriting jobs are difficult to track because there isn't a single US labor statistic that covers that category.
Re: Willison on Merchant's "Copywriters reveal how AI has decimated their industry"
#4I'm a full time copywriter for SaaS companies and I'm actually finding the opposite. My experience is people are having AI write stuff then trying to massage it themselves. When they can't get it to a point where they're happy with it they eventually just throw up their hands and hire me for pre-AI project scopes with 2025 rates. Not saying that's the experience everywhere, but AI has been much less problematic for m…
That's interesting. A problem I have with Brian Merchant's reporting on this is that he put out a call for stories from people who have lost their jobs to AI and so that's what he got. What's missing is a clear indication of the size of this problems. Are there a small number of copywriters who have been affected in this way or is it endemic to the industry as a whole? I'd love to see larger scale data on this. As fa…
It's such a difficult vertical to track because there isn't always a clear start and end condition. Drafts get passed around, edited, revised, and cleared by different teams, sometimes with a mixture of writing from in-house, freelancers, external agencies, and AI. Lots of people I talk to can't believe the number of projects that get approved and paid for that never end up going live simply because of red tape.
Re: Willison on Merchant's "Copywriters reveal how AI has decimated their industry"
#5I'm a full time copywriter for SaaS companies and I'm actually finding the opposite. My experience is people are having AI write stuff then trying to massage it themselves. When they can't get it to a point where they're happy with it they eventually just throw up their hands and hire me for pre-AI project scopes with 2025 rates. Not saying that's the experience everywhere, but AI has been much less problematic for m…
I can't remember which pundit said it, but his theory was that only the best would stay employed and that they would be valued for their high skill
Re: Willison on Merchant's "Copywriters reveal how AI has decimated their industry"
#6I have more of a problem with poor governance than strong automation. The economy should provide us all food and shelter, beyond that, do what you love.
Re: Willison on Merchant's "Copywriters reveal how AI has decimated their industry"
#7I think the article is about “copywriters” who aren’t true copywriters but those who were writing junk articles for SEO.
Once AI can write proper compelling converting copy then I’ll change my mind.
Re: Willison on Merchant's "Copywriters reveal how AI has decimated their industry"
#8If a human component is required in addition to the cheaply machine-automated part, that belies the claim that 'most of the work has already been done'.
The human part, turning it from slop to polished, becomes the most important part of the work, and then (and in any case) should be paid at human rates.
Re: Willison on Merchant's "Copywriters reveal how AI has decimated their industry"
#9I'm a full time copywriter for SaaS companies and I'm actually finding the opposite. My experience is people are having AI write stuff then trying to massage it themselves. When they can't get it to a point where they're happy with it they eventually just throw up their hands and hire me for pre-AI project scopes with 2025 rates. Not saying that's the experience everywhere, but AI has been much less problematic for m…
I can't remember which pundit said it, but his theory was that only the best would stay employed and that they would be valued for their high skill
I think this might be what many people think. Which is what brings upon problems of self-worth. However, "best" and "high skill" aren't always the reason why companies value work and workers, i.e. the economy is not a meritocracy.
Re: Willison on Merchant's "Copywriters reveal how AI has decimated their industry"
#10I'm a full time copywriter for SaaS companies and I'm actually finding the opposite. My experience is people are having AI write stuff then trying to massage it themselves. When they can't get it to a point where they're happy with it they eventually just throw up their hands and hire me for pre-AI project scopes with 2025 rates. Not saying that's the experience everywhere, but AI has been much less problematic for m…
I can't remember which pundit said it, but his theory was that only the best would stay employed and that they would be valued for their high skill
Perhaps, but then it becomes a buyer's market, and salaries will reflect that.