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ChatGPT Stole My Job 😩
70 Plays7 months ago
The dystopian future has arrived ... kind of.
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Transcript
AI's Impact on JR's Career
00:00:00
Speaker
You know, people out there talk about the potential of people losing their jobs to AI, but I haven't heard that many actual stories where it's happened. My last corporate job that I had, one of the reasons that I lost my job was directly because of AI.
00:00:18
Speaker
Welcome, friends, to life's effin' nuts. I am JR, one man's stories and ruminations on being human in an upside down world.
Skepticism and Exploration of ChatGPT
00:00:35
Speaker
Early on, I'd heard sort of whispers about chat GPT. At my previous company, I heard people discussing it, being sort of amused by the different things that it could do. And for me, I tend to be anachronistic. And so I have a naturally suspicious disposition when it comes to new fads, new trends, new technologies, a naturally suspicious disposition. And so I was like, in my mind, some parts of me, yeah, get off my porch. Like this it kind of this old curmudgeon. Like, I don't want to hear about that. I'm a old school, old fashioned artist. To be clear, I was a ah copywriter in the corporate world for five years.
00:01:11
Speaker
My direct manager, the senior vice president of marketing and the CEO both told me like, Hey, like you should get very familiar with this thing. Like this is going to revolutionize copywriting. Like you want to be on the cutting edge. You don't want to miss this thing. Like start getting familiar, start learning how to feed it different prompts to see what it can come up with. So reluctantly I was like, okay, I'll try it out. And so I went on there. And I was pretty fascinated by the power of the tool. My first impulse was this to sort of have conversations with the bot.
00:01:41
Speaker
and to ask the bot about, I would just have questions about Bob Dylan, for instance, and it would give all this interesting information and we'd just be in this conversation. and So it's like, okay, that's kind of fascinating, kind of get it, but didn't think too much about it. I was like, okay, I get it. Like, there's just not that too much. There's not too much to it. It's like, I get it. Okay, I understand. I could see how I could make use of this. I could potentially use it to help me as a a thesaurus, as a research tool. Maybe I could mess around with it to write drafts for me for emails and things like that or to come up with a campaign concept
Threat to JR's Role as Copywriter
00:02:17
Speaker
or things like that. You know, I spent a couple hours with it and I was like, okay, I think I get it. It's not that complex. Fast forward probably a month or so and more and more people at my company are talking about chat GPT. People in the Slack channels are posting these different funny, interesting things that chat GPT came up with. I remember on someone's birthday, a member of our company had gone into chat GPT and said, write us a limerick about this person. And then they posted this hilarious limerick and everyone was like losing their minds. Like, Oh my God, this is brilliant. This is funny. Oh my God. other than Whatever. I could feel it growing, this surge of energy around chat GPT and AI. Then I learned we were on a fast track, a new product where we were gonna integrate chat GPT with our software. And I don't think this company did anything wrong. So I'm not gonna name the company specifically. And I'm i'm also gonna be very careful with the kind of information that I'm sharing. I have no ill will, no hard feelings against this company. So this is not a vitriolic,
00:03:19
Speaker
diatribe about how fucked up this company is. That's not what this is. Basically, they were gonna integrate chat GPT to where our customers could just plug in tiny bit of information into a little box. And then the chat GPT would spit out all these marketing assets. for our customers and was basically going to be doing a lot of what I was doing because for me, I was a copywriter. I was also sort of an internal consultant. I would work directly with some of our customers to help them develop their marketing language, come up with creative marketing strategy.
00:03:54
Speaker
And so basically, chat GPT was going to replace a lot of what I was doing.
Company's Shift and Job Risk Discussion
00:03:59
Speaker
I personally still felt like I had intangibles that chat GPT did not have, that I could come up with ideas and language that was unique and authentic and had a human touch. But I fully recognize that chat DPT was a strong, powerful tool and that it could definitely write industry standard stuff in in the blink of an eye infinitely faster than I could. And that for most of the clients that I was working with as an internal consultant, they didn't need something that was like out of this world. In some cases, you know, they just need like ah a welcome article or something like that, or, you know, an idea for a product name. And so I started to see the writing on the wall and be a little concerned. I had actually just started a new role within the company. It was sort of an exciting time. I was moving to one of our most successful teams within the company. And I was gonna be working with our most successful clients, seven figure clients. And so it was an exciting time for me. A few weeks after I transitioned to this new team in this new role, that team had a two day retreat. And so I was pretty excited to meet my new team, all these high performing individuals, really talented, smart people. And I went to this retreat.
00:05:10
Speaker
And the first thing that we did before anything, the first thing we did on the first morning of the retreat, the CEO sat us down. They delivered this probably hour and a half really impassioned talk. If I recall the quote, the ground beneath our feet is shaking. Things are about to change in ways that you cannot even imagine, like within weeks, within months. This is like one of the biggest tectonic shifts in business that we are going to see in our lifetime. And those who do not adapt and evolve with the times, with the technology that's emerging before our very eyes will fail. Those who embrace it and adapt and evolve will succeed.
00:05:57
Speaker
and we are gonna be at the forefront of all of this.
Layoff and Reflections
00:06:00
Speaker
Now, be clear, this thing is not coming for your jobs immediately. Except maybe JR, she says, in the middle of the talk.
00:06:19
Speaker
The CEO did not say like, you're getting laid off. I think in the moment they were more saying like, this is an inflection point for you. What are you gonna do with this technology? How are you gonna adapt and evolve as a copywriter who now performs a role that can be easily reproduced and recreated by technology? That was essentially the message they were delivering. Nevertheless, it was pretty intense. I couldn't get it out of my head.
00:06:51
Speaker
After that retreat, I just i couldn't get it out of my head. I kept asking my manager, like, can you ask your manager, is this gonna affect me? How might this affect me? What can I do to continue to deliver value for this company so that my job is secure? And my manager was fairly new. They were not able to tell me that much. Each time I but i would bring it up every single week at a one-on-one, like, do you have any updates on how this might affect me? and they continue to say, I'm not sure right now, i I'm trying to get information from my manager, I'll let you know as soon as I know. I wouldn't let it go, which I actually got some feedback from a friend, a sort of a mentor of mine, that it wasn't wise to continue to bring it up, that I was sort of planting the seeds of doubt for them. I was so insecure that the writing was on the wall, that this new technology made me replaceable, that I couldn't let it go, I just kept asking about it.
00:07:46
Speaker
If I'm not mistaken, within a few weeks of that retreat, something was off. Something was amiss. Things were slow. And I was like, this, something feels weird. Something's not right here. Some days I just would not hardly have any work. And I'm like the most high profile team at the company. I make ah like a good salary. I was having debates in my head and then also with friends and advisors. And I was like, sort of sharing like, here's what I'm seeing. Am I crazy? Some people would sort of say like, Yeah, I think you sort of are crazy. Like you just started this new role. You have a unique skill set. You've shown over the last several years that you have value at this company that you deliver value beyond just copywriting. But sure enough, sure enough.
00:08:30
Speaker
I get, I think, like, middle of the week, maybe like a Wednesday. I see um a meeting added to my calendar with my manager and my manager's manager. And it's on a Friday. And immediately, like, I'm like, I'm getting fucking laid off, man. Getting fucking laid off.
00:09:00
Speaker
I respected this company, I'm grateful for the work I did there, and I wasn't happy there. I've since learned that specific role. At times I can be a very effective copywriter. That's not just my opinion. I've gotten that feedback from many clients. I've had successful campaigns with my copywriting, et cetera. So I can be an effective copywriter for sure. But I've started to learn that that specific sort of narrow role actually doesn't jive with me that well. That that my passion is much more around creativity and leadership and relationship building, et cetera. So in some ways, the role was just off. The fit was just off.
00:09:42
Speaker
And I'd also actually already been considering leaving that position and potentially starting my own business and sort of doing it on my own. So I'd already been sort of planting seeds and I had a few clients in place already that potentially I could start working with if things didn't work out. Yet, nevertheless, for any of my listeners out there who've been laid off before, it is not a good feeling. Even if you're not happy at the job, it feels demoralizing. And for me also, like there's a lot of shame and embarrassment. like I feel like a failure, a loser. Sure enough, on that Friday.
00:10:18
Speaker
hopped on the meeting and I told myself, you know, I'm just going to be positive, just hear whatever they have to say. I'll just, you know, stand up tall. Happy Friday. It's been
Post-Layoff Experimentation with ChatGPT
00:10:26
Speaker
a good week. How are you all doing? My manager's manager was like, Oh yeah, good to see you, JR. Like, but just letting you know, like, unfortunately, this is not going to be ah a pleasant meeting. And I was like,
00:10:42
Speaker
Okay. They didn't say anything about AI or chat GPT affecting this decision. So it was never conclusive. They never said anything about that. All they said was a very generic, there's a gap between what we need and your skillset. I just tried to take that in, not be defensive. And it just felt really vague and generic to me. And so I was like, Okay, okay, I hear you. But just a question. It had only been a month at that point. I only had this role for about a month. Every project that I've done for our clients, I've received very positive feedback. So could you give me a little bit more information about exactly where you feel like i my skill set is lacking? They didn't give me any more specifics than that. Again, they just sort of said, everything's evolving quickly and changing. and
00:11:33
Speaker
I don't even know what they said, but it was just it was substanceless. They didn't give me very concrete stuff. It was a pretty brutal feeling. And again, I have no conclusive evidence to say that it was chat GPT, but it seemed it like it would be too much of a coincidence. And I remember I told one of my mentors and I explained the situation. And he said, he was like well he's like, wow. And I've been reading articles about how chat GPT is gonna affect the workforce and affect people's jobs, but like you're an actual living example of it. He's he's like, I wonder if you're one of the first ones, which I'm probably not, but I probably am part of the first wave who was affected by new technology. As it became clear after that retreat that we went to with my new team, and I recognized that this is the
Career Clarity and Podcast Inspiration
00:12:17
Speaker
future. This is the future of this company at least.
00:12:19
Speaker
I heeded the advice that the CEO and my former manager had told me around, like, get very familiar with this. And so I did dive even deeper into it. I started to try to use chat GPT to come up with drafts so I could work faster and produce more. Yet I always had, especially at the at those early stages, I had very ambivalent feelings about it. Because for me as a creative person, Part of my creative process is to explore and navigate the raw material and find an authentic connection with it. that's It's vital. like If I don't have an and instinctual, intuitive, visceral, felt connection with the material, I can't create.
00:13:01
Speaker
I can't innovate, I can't think in in dynamic ways. And so in this process of trying to figure out how to use this tool to make my work more efficient and experiment with having Chat GPT write drafts for me and then me tighten the drafts, it always threw me off because by having Chat GPT write the first draft, I was skipping this vital step for my creative process where I struggle with the material and I Explore to find ways to authentically connect with the material.
00:13:41
Speaker
Like I felt like the thing that made me valuable but was being lost in this process. And then once I got laid off from that company, I went through a period where I was like, you know what? Fuck chat GPT. I was trying to sort of to heed the call of this is a new technology. Embrace it. It will only enhance your work. Do not resist the rising tide of this new technology. I was trying to embrace it. That sounded right. It sounded wise. On LinkedIn, all the marketing influencers that I follow were speaking the same message. And so it seemed prudent and wise to do that. But as soon as I got laid off, I was like, fuck that man. I've been creating since I was 15 years old. I have tried and true creative processes. I know how to unlock
00:14:27
Speaker
Unique ideas that humans can resonate with I know how to do that like fuck chat GPT man fuck chat GPT but then just naturally as I was charting my path forward after I got laid off and try to figure out like do I want to Start my own business do this as like a freelancer. but I want to explore some other kinds of stuff Naturally without even thinking about it. I started using chat GPT as a tool for thought clarification. I
00:14:57
Speaker
And that's when something clicked for me where it could be a useful, powerful tool. Because basically I would give chat GPT massive amounts of information and I would basically say, can you help me synthesize this? What are you hearing me say? What is true here? And I'll give a very specific example. Early on when I got laid off, I had a lot of different opportunities. I already had some clients I could work with as a freelancer or starting my own consulting business or marketing business. I had a couple of leads for other job opportunities. I had some creative projects and ideas that I either wanted to just do on the side to feed my soul and spirit, or that I wanted to do potentially for an extra revenue stream. And so I wrote into chat GPT, I wrote probably, I would say three to 4,000 words.
00:15:42
Speaker
describing my entire career and not just my formal professional career, but every single venture, every single idea, every single creative project that I'd ever worked on. And I've done a lot of different things. I'm quickly gonna list a few of them. Early on, you know, when I was young, I did odd jobs. Like I painted houses. I was a valet parking attendant. I worked at a sandwich shop. I was a hockey referee. I was a bike taxi driver. I started my own program called Beyond This Prison, where I, it's a story for another day, but basically I taught workshops at at major colleges and universities. for good money. And then I was a program director at a nonprofit and I worked in the corporate world for many years as a marketer. So i I'd done a lot of different things. I'd done a lot of street performing. I've come to make a lot more sense of it now, but at least then I didn't know how it all meshed. It was just like so much stuff and so many possibilities and so many ideas. And I'm like, how do I make sense of this? I like i only have so much energy and so many hours in the day. What do I do? And so I wrote.
00:16:44
Speaker
three to four thousand words into chat GPT and I said like help me make sense of this like distill this down into five single sentence strong points or points of view
00:16:58
Speaker
And so it did that and I was like, ah, interesting. Like that makes sense. That's helping me make sense of my mind, which is, can be a very difficult task. And I was like, okay, like chat GPT, this could be a ah helpful tool for me. I could see it, but I still feel overwhelmed. And I was like, chat GPT is just like, pretend you're a controlling parent and just tell me exactly what to do. Just tell me what to do.
00:17:22
Speaker
I obviously was not just going to do whatever chat GPT said, but I was curious if I gave it this prompt, what would it say? And do you know what it said? You're going to find this amusing. I hope at least it said, given all of these things that you've done, you've done a lot of interesting sort of unconventional kinds of things in your life. And given that you've done this and this and this, what I think you should do chat GPT said is start a podcast.
00:17:52
Speaker
I wrote HM period. That's interesting period. Huh, I wrote that. You know what chat GPT like that that kind of makes sense. ah Where would I even start man? I don't like what would the podcast be about? I don't like editing a podcast sounds like a fucking annoying task.
Launching 'Life's F&Nuts' Podcast
00:18:13
Speaker
I don't know if I want to market it or like build the brand like it makes sense what you're saying chat GPT but like like Who am I to start a podcast? Everyone wants to start a podcast, man. Everyone thinks that their voice is so important and needs to be heard by everybody. Like, come on, chat GPT. Like, that makes sense. And like, I don't really think I'm gonna do that, but probably a month or so later.
00:18:36
Speaker
in a conversation with another mentor, forget chat GPT. This idea came to me independently of what chat GPT had said, where I'm like, you know what? I really like talking into a microphone. I've known that for a long time. i've Throughout my life, I've done a lot of audio narration. If I go on a trip on adventure, I love doing audio narration, like every day at the end of the day, talking about my experience. i loved I've always loved that. And so, you know, it's very energizing to tell stories, to explore with my words, look for the truth. You know what? I'm just gonna start recording every day.
00:19:11
Speaker
And I don't know where it's going to go. I don't know if anyone will ever hear it, but enough stuff happens to me throughout the course of my day that I have stuff to talk about. And so I started doing it every single day. I just started recording, just telling little things that happened to me. And through that process, clarity started to emerge. I got this idea like, okay, I could call this life's effing nuts. And I could just tell these little stories aiming to capture relatable aspects of the human experience. And then my storytelling started to refine and get a little sharper and I got feedback from friends. And before you know it, here we are with a full on podcast. Life's effing nuts. We got a logo. I have someone who helps me edit. I have someone who helps me a couple hours a week on social media. Fucking chat GPT was right, man.
00:19:59
Speaker
I guess the takeaway is for me, maintain my autonomy. Just because there's new tools who can do things that I previously was doing doesn't mean I should just go on autopilot and sort of surrender my soul and spirit entirely to this stupid fucking machine. That's stupid and dangerous. No, stay true to who I am. Stay true to my methods, my approach, my philosophy, my values, my energy. But from that truthful place, if there's a tool that can help me, it's not, taking over the hard work of being human for me, but it can help me assist me in my already naturally organic process, then use the fucking tool, you know? Thanks for listening, friends. Stay tuned for future episodes of Life's F&Nuts. I'm JR. Thanks for tuning in into Life's F&Nuts. I hope you enjoyed that story. New episodes drop every Tuesday on Apple Podcasts and Spotify, and you can follow us on social media at Life's F and&Nuts Podcasts. I'm JR. See you guys soon.