Leanne was working in her dream job. Then came ChatGPT

The adage of do what you love, and the money will follow is one many workers have stuck to for years. But with industries everywhere being upended by artificial intelligence (AI), some employees have begun to question if this sentiment still holds true.

Leanne Shelton is one such worker. For over 10 years, her copywriting and content marketing business was her dream career, but since the rise of ChatGPT, her business has become more of a side gig.

Leanne Shelton found herself without clients once ChatGPT became popular.

“I’ve been a passionate writer my whole life, so being paid to write high-quality content to help out fellow small business owners was something I loved doing every day,” Shelton says.

However, her love for what she did started to wane as she found it harder and harder to convert inquiries into paid work.

“Potential clients simply saw the price tag and figured there was no point paying for our services when they could get AI to do it for free,” she says.

By 2023, Shelton had barely any work on her books. Her last couple of monthly retainers had dropped off, and she was feeling a bit lost.

‘Finding other work out of necessity doesn’t mean people have to let go of their passion completely.’

“This was definitely a turning point for me. I saw the writing on the wall, but instead of fighting my new competitor and losing, I decided to accept that this was my new reality – everyone’s going to start using AI at some point.”

Shelton decided to use her extensive experience and expertise in copywriting and content marketing to help others get the best out of AI, giving herself a month to learn everything she could about the tool.

“I started running some online and face-to-face workshops about how to use ChatGPT and these went well,” she says. She officially launched her new business, HumanEdge AI Training, in April 2024.

“I barely do any copywriting any more. AI is my newfound passion. Just try to stop me from talking about it!”

Never stop learning

Career and leadership coach Claire Seeber says letting go of a career you love out of necessity can be a painful feeling, but it’s helpful to reflect on the things that you loved in your career and see where you can find ways to weave them into your new role.

Seeber adds that retraining has always been an essential part of any sustainable career and will continue to be.

“It might feel scary for many people right now because of the rhetoric around AI taking everyone’s jobs,” she says.

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“Finding other work out of necessity doesn’t mean people have to let go of their passion completely; it just needs to be reframed, for example, in a hobby or side project instead of the primary income.”

Out with the old – in with the new

Associate Professor Sarah Bankins at the department of management at Macquarie Business School says we’re still at an early stage to establish labour market trends since the introduction of generative AI.

“There is evidence of shrinking demand for some short-term, freelance creative work, such as in writing and translating, but with a lesser effect on longer-term project work. There’s also evidence for ongoing demand for other types of creative roles,” she says.

“We’re seeing new types of roles and career paths emerge. An example is in the legal profession; roles such as legal engineers, legal analytics specialists, and e-disclosure specialists are emerging and changing the types of career paths available.”

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