Thousands of Kenyans who wrote academic papers for foreign students found their livelihoods vanished after ChatGPT launched in 2022. At its peak, at least 40,000 people worked in Nairobi alone, charging between $40 and $70 per text for essays in fields like medicine and computer science. Some clients even provided university logins to bypass detection. Prices and orders collapsed immediately following the release of the large language model. Related work, including transcription and data annotation for Meta, also dried up across the country.
This event highlights how quickly artificial intelligence can displace low-cost labour previously outsourced to developing nations. The shift leaves behind a small number of “humanizers” who rework AI text to pass plagiarism checks, while the broader informal sector faces uncertainty. Oxford professor Mark Graham expects similar upheavals worldwide as machines take over more tasks. Teresios Bundi, a former writer who produced over 2,500 papers, warned that the technology is now targeting bankers, accountants, engineers, and architects.
- Approximately 80 percent of jobs in Kenya are informal.
- The government promoted online gig work starting in 2016.
- Companies like Samasource previously helped label AI data.
