In 2024, Klarna made headlines for a move it thought was the future of business. It replaced 700 customer service employees with a customer chatbot, and its CEO boasted publicly about it before freezing hiring for a year.
Mid last year, Klarna started hiring humans again.
Its CEO went on record with Bloomberg saying, “We focused too much on efficiency and cost. The result was lower quality, and that’s not sustainable.”
This has become a lot more familiar in a society obsessed with generating value for the shareholders by any means necessary. With AI being the latest trend for cutting costs, many companies are now learning a very expensive lesson.
People still want people.
The bigger picture
Klarna is a high-profile example, but it’s just one of many.
A recent survey by IBM of 2,000 CEOs found that just one in four AI projects delivers return on investment. The report goes further to say that many companies went all-in on the tech largely due to FOMO rather than a clear sense of what AI could actually do for them.
In advertising, the missteps are public.
In 2025 alone, seven major brands including McDonald’s and Coca-Cola faced notable AI advertising backfires. AI-generated holiday ads were called creepy and tone deaf (yep, I agree).
Most of those ads were pulled within days.
Meanwhile, 59% of digital media professionals now say they are actively guarding their brand against AI-generated content. They cite concerns about hallucinations, spam, and user perception.
Notably, these aren’t AI haters like many of us. These are just marketing professionals making a decision based on what’s working and what isn’t.
Compounding quality woes
The thing about AI content at business scale is that the problems don’t show up right away.
At first it looks good and the metrics are acceptable. The efficiency stands out because it is way faster than human work.
Then, over time, the bad parts arrive.
AI struggles with consistent brand voice. Customers feel like something is off and the complex satisfaction metrics dip.
Content starts feeling stale and same-y so people take a step back. They engage less and have less trust in the brand.
The longer the AI content game plays out, the worse these problems become, and correcting them gets harder and harder with each month that passes.
What this means for you right now
Companies that embraced AI in 2025 (and there are lots of them) are pivoting right now. As you read this, they are bringing back writers they let go, hiring new ones, and trying to rebuild lost authority.
The question you should be asking yourself is: Are you the writer they’ll call?
Here are three things you can do to give yourself an advantage:
- Target companies with something to lose. Brands in healthcare, financial services, legal, and B2B tech have regulatory exposure and reputational stakes that make AI content riskier than normal. They also tend to pay well. If you aren’t already in a niche, one of these can be a great place to start.
- Lead with your humanity. When you pitch yourself to a client, your differentiator is you. Writing well is only half the battle. Writing from a human perspective is what is winning writers jobs in this market.
- Keep an eye on the data. Companies trying to reverse course from AI often show it. If their content feels generic or says nothing, they’re probably slowing down the output. These companies are the ones who have learned their lesson and may be interested in hearing from you.
The AI honeymoon is over. Brands that chased efficiency at all costs are waking up, and they need people to fix the problem.
Be the writer they find when they go looking.
