Company Turns To AI For Cost Cutting, Ends Up Paying US Woman Rs 1.7 Lakh To Fix Errors

Relying on artificial intelligence for routine work has proved costly for a content agency. The company finally took help from a United States-based product manager to rework an AI-generated copy. This came with an additional cost of $2,000 (nearly Rs 1.71 lakh).

Sarah Skidd, a product marketing manager, revealed she is being hired by companies to fix issues created by artificial intelligence. The Arizona-based writer told BBC that she was recently paid $100 an hour by a content agency to fix AI-generated content. It took her nearly 20 hours, as she had to rewrite the entire copy for a hospitality client.

"It was the kind of copy you typically see in AI copy—just very basic; it wasn't interesting," Skidd told BBC. "It was supposed to sell and intrigue, but instead it was very vanilla."

Rather than making small changes, she "had to redo the whole thing" and ended up making over Rs 1.7 lakh in 20 hours.

"Maybe I'm being naive, but I think if you are very good, you won't have trouble,” she expressed her views about concerns around AI. According to Skidd, AI can be an excellent tool when used correctly. Like her, there are many writers who are earning by fixing AI-generated content.

A digital marketing agency co-owner, Sophie Warner, shared a similar experience, noting how her clients were using ChatGPT for their issues first.

"Earlier, clients would message us if they were having issues with their site or wanted to introduce new functionality," Warner said. "Now they are going to ChatGPT first."

She said clients using ChatGPT for website code had reported issues. These include sites crashing down or leaving them vulnerable to hackers. She revealed that such a move cost one of her clients £360 (Rs 42,000) and three days of service disruption, the BBC report added.  

Similar instances have occurred in the past where businesses trying to cut costs with AI have ended up paying more. In June, a Swedish fintech company, Klarna, made headlines for a similar incident. The company announced that it was organising a large-scale recruitment drive to hire staff again, two years after firing more than 700 employees to replace them with AI.