AI-Generated Content Hurting Today's Human Writers

There is no question that AI and tools such as ChatGPT have become a nuisance for writers of all types. As a writer, I always strive to create original content, even if it means that I have to brew an extra three cups of coffee at 2am to do so! There is a strong sense of pride in reviewing your final product after sitting for hours in front of the computer screen, analyzing and dissecting every word! With that said, seeing other “writers” using AI to create a full article, poem, or story in just a matter of minutes makes me sick to my stomach. This is beyond aggravating for me. What about the children of today? How many students will now continuously try to find ways to cheat the system and use AI to do their homework? I know, overall, there are benefits to AI, but as a writer, I just plain loathe it!

As somebody who earns a living by writing, I wish AI was never invented! For the past 14 years, I have been self-employed as a professional resume writer. I run my own one-man business. I was working from home well before the pandemic days! You wouldn’t think resume writing would be a full-time job that could consistently provide cash flow to pay the bills, but, much to the surprise of many, it has enabled me to buy a nice house, a nice truck, and a thousand toys for my kids to play with! Since beginning my resume writing venture, my yearly income has steadily increased. In the year 2022, I had one of my best years ever as far as total revenue goes.

Things changed in 2023. The amount of phone calls and emails from prospective customers was considerably lower in 2023 in comparison to other years. And, yes, so was the yearly income.  My total sales fell by 15% from 2022 to 2023. There are many possibilities why, but I would be ignorant to think that IA is not one of them. Nowadays, many people are using ChatGPT to quickly generate a new resume. In my humble opinion, the AI-generated resumes are not at the same level of a resume created by a legit resume writer, but if people want to save time and money in days of painful inflation, then, hey, I get it. These people are sacrificing quality and optimal resume customization by doing so, but again, I get it. Times are tough and wallets are thin, so spending $100 to $500 for a new resume is not in the books for many people.

Recently, I reviewed a posting on a local Facebook page that was created for residents of my city. The poster was asking for recommendations for a nearby resume writer. There were 12 replies to this question. One of the replies was a very kind man that recommend MY company (Resume Phenom LLC). One of the other responses mentioned a different resume writer, who is located in the same area as me. What about the 10 remaining responses, you ask? Yes, you guessed it! The other 10 responders all stated “ChatGPT.”  Ugh . . .

I had hopes that these AI-Detectors online would help us writers out, but it seems that may not be the case. There was a man that published an article back in 2007, long before AI was created.  Out of curiosity, he tested out one of the available AI-detectors online. He copied and pasted the content from his 17-year-old document onto the AI-detector website. The results indicated that the document was AI-Generated!

I then took it upon myself to test it out one of these sites, too. I retrieved one of my older blogs and copied and pasted the content onto an AI-detector site. Sure enough, the result stated that the document was AI-generated. Are you kidding me? The next day, just for kicks and giggles, I used the site again and copied and pasted the same exact document. This time, the site indicate that my content as generated by a HUMAN! Wow! Keep in mind that I did not make a single change or alteration to the document during this process! 

My goodness! Us writers are taking a hard hit right now! It’s bad enough that AI is stealing some of our thunder. Just to make matters even worse, many of these AI-detectors that are supposed to help us are occasionally designating our hard work as AI-Generated! 

The utilization of AI has caused a negative impact for many writers, but I will hang in there! I say this to all of my fellow writers - BE STRONG! BE RESILIENT! WE WILL SURVIVE!