AI wipes out Kenya’s essay-writing industry: report
NEW YORK, UNITED STATES — ChatGPT’s December 2022 release wiped out an estimated 40,000-person essay-writing industry in Kenya within two years, as Western students switched to free AI tools and surviving Kenyan writers saw monthly earnings fall from $900 to $1,200 to $500 to $800.
ChatGPT ends Kenya’s 40,000-writer essay economy in 2 years
Teresios Bundi, a Kenyan ghostwriter who wrote more than 2,500 essays over 12 years, said “I never imagined AI could do this kind of work,” as a KDRTV report on the New York Times investigation found the industry collapsed within two years of ChatGPT’s December 2022 release.
Essay-writing paid $40 to $70 per paper in Kenya, often five times more than comparable entry-level graduate roles, as 40,000 workers in the sector watched Western students switch to AI tools they could use for free.
When a free AI tool eliminates the economic case for paying skilled workers $40 to $70 per task, the collapse happens faster than any regulatory or retraining response can match.
Bundi warns AI jobs crisis will reach every profession
Bundi said “AI is already coming for bankers, accountants, engineers and architects. The jobs crisis will eventually hit everyone.”
Alex Munyua, 30, a former Kenyan ghostwriter, said “Some went back to their hometowns, and the rest tried other fields but are frustrated because they cannot find permanent jobs.”
Richard Esilaba, who at his peak employed up to 100 writers, closed his essay business entirely after AI eliminated the market for paid essay-writing services.
The collapse of Kenya’s essay-writing sector connects directly to the sourcing risk for offshore outsourcing and business process outsourcing (BPO) capacity, where leading BPO operators in knowledge-work markets must now compete with AI tools at zero marginal cost.
When AI eliminates 40,000 knowledge-work positions across a sector in two years, it confirms that offshore digital work is not insulated from AI displacement simply because it runs outside the domestic economy.
The collapse Bundi describes is the first documented case of AI eliminating a structured offshore knowledge-work sector at scale.
For enterprise buyers evaluating their outsourcing mix, the Kenya case establishes that AI displacement of gig and project-based knowledge work is not a future risk but a current one.
BPO operators building AI-augmented service delivery rather than competing on task volume alone are positioned as the durable option as AI continues eliminating the commodity layer of every knowledge profession.
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Disclosure: Outsource Accelerator uses AI tools in the backend of its editorial workflow. Every article is reviewed and verified by a human editor before publication.
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