Mistakes caused by AI increase costs for companies

Companies that have been trying to rapidly replace their human workforce with artificial intelligence in recent years have recently had to resort to human employees again to correct the mistakes made by artificial intelligence tools.

The demand for software developers and copywriters working to fix the disruptions caused by artificial intelligence has created a new industry. Those who are talented in this field are making good use of the opportunity and making serious profits.

INCREASED THE COST

US marketing executive Sarah Skidd told the BBC that she wasn’t afraid of losing her job because most of her recent work involved fixing AI’s mistakes. Earlier this year, an agency outsourced its content writing to a chatbot to cut costs, but when the results fell far short of expectations, Skidd was asked to rewrite the text.

Describing the resulting text as “very superficial” and uninteresting, Skidd said, “It was supposed to sell and create curiosity, but the resulting text was a complete disappointment.” Skidd stated that he spent 20 hours completely rewriting the text and that the agency had to pay a total of $2,000, with his hourly rate of $100.

However, if it had been written by a specialist from the beginning, this cost would have been much lower.

CORRECTION REQUESTS ARE INCREASING

It has been noted that many companies have recently encountered unexpected problems while replacing employees they laid off during the transition to artificial intelligence a few years ago with tools.

Sophie Warner, a partner at UK-based digital marketing agency Create Designs, told the BBC that she was receiving an increasing number of requests from clients to “fix the AI.” “In the past, clients would come to us when they had a problem with the site or wanted to add a new feature. Now they go to ChatGPT first,” she said.

A client recently went three days without a website because of code ChatGPT wrote, Warner said, and paid the agency around $500 to fix the problem, whereas Warner says an expert could have done the same update in just 15 minutes.

"Customers often don't want to admit they made a mistake themselves, so we have to charge an additional investigation fee to identify the problem. It would have been much quicker and cheaper to consult an expert from the start," said Warner.

Despite making money from fixing AI bugs, Skidd and Warner said they are not against the technology but are wary of the idea that it could replace skilled labor.

“Although it may seem fast and cheap, AI never takes into account a brand’s unique identity, target audience or sales-oriented design. It is no substitute for human expertise and contextual knowledge in our industry,” Warner said.

Skidd said, “It may sound a little naive, but if you do your job really well, you won’t be unemployed because of AI.”