And whether or not you are at #AGU25, you can join us in speaking out against moves by the Trump administration to dismantle @ncar-ucar.bsky.social, the premier weather and climate research center for the nation. secure.ucs.org/a/2025-prote...

READ MORE: bit.ly/4oVFwqH

Thanks to @jomc.bsky.social, who edited this installment, and will be helping with the next few.

AS ALWAYS, if AI has killed (or diminished, disrupted, transformed, degraded, or impacted) your job, please get in touch and share your story:

[email protected]

Some held out hope for a correction. They lament that what's been lost is the human touch; the copywriters who take the time to learn what a small business is really about, to develop a unique voice suited to a client. AI, meanwhile, is homogenous and dull.

But for now, things are dire.

Many copywriters were offered reduced rates to edit AI-generated copy. Others who still did have jobs said that the work has lost much of its meaning; it's been sped-up and automated into busywork.

As was true with the translators I heard from in an earlier edition, copywriters never felt that they were being replaced because the AI's work was better. It was almost always worse. It was simply cheaper and faster, and deemed "good enough" by clients.

I heard stories from copywriters who had to move back home with their parents. Staff copywriters whose work has all but been turned over to AI, and no longer have anything to do. Others are trying to retrain for a new career in their 50s. One shared that they had been pushed into sex work.

"The drop off from 2022 to 2023 was BAD. The drop off from 2023 to 2024 was CATASTROPHIC," as the founder of a copywriting agency told me.

Copywriters working across the field shared accounts of clients abandoning them or their agencies for cheaper AI output en masse. They've seen freelance work and rates plummet. Many were made to write the copy to train their own AI replacements. Whole businesses have closed their doors.