NAIROBI, Kenya — The rise of artificial intelligence (AI) has dramatically disrupted Kenya's internet-based gig economy, upending livelihoods for thousands of workers who relied on online freelance jobs. One of the most affected sectors has been essay writing for overseas college students, a once thriving industry that provided significant income for young Kenyans.
Teresios Bundi, 34, who graduated in public health from a Nairobi university, was among those who built a business writing academic papers for international clients. Starting in 2011, Bundi wrote thousands of essays over more than a decade, balancing his studies with freelance work that sometimes required him to complete up to three assignments a day. At its peak, he charged clients up to $70 per paper and expanded his operation by hiring students to help meet demand. This business reportedly allowed Bundi to earn five times the salary he would have made in a traditional public health role.
Bundi and others like him benefitted from the growth of the global digital gig economy, which connected educated youth in Kenya, the Philippines, India, and elsewhere, with online tasks often reputedly undesirable in wealthier countries. Besides essay writing, Kenyans also engaged in transcription services, social media content moderation, and flagging inappropriate posts on platforms like Upwork and Fiverr.
However, the widespread adoption of AI tools, especially since the launch of OpenAI’s ChatGPT in 2022, has sharply reduced demand for such freelance services. Students increasingly turned to AI solutions to generate essays and complete assignments, prompting a collapse in the market for human freelancers. Rates plummeted, and work opportunities evaporated, shrinking the essay-writing sector to near extinction.
“I never would have expected AI could do this,” Bundi remarked, noting how quickly his income dried up. Many others in Kenya’s gig economy have shared a similar fate, with alternative roles such as data labeling and content moderation also declining due to automation and AI advances.
Experts see Kenya’s experience as a precursor of broader global shifts in labor caused by AI technology. Mark Graham, a professor at Oxford University who studies digital labor markets, said Kenya’s collapse in essay writing jobs illustrates the challenge AI poses to the lowest levels of global online work. “It’s not just going to be Kenya — it’s going to be everywhere we see a big transformation,” Graham said.
Following the downturn, Bundi closed his essay-writing business and now works with a German government development organization aimed at helping young Kenyans find new opportunities in the digital economy. He described his experience as a cautionary tale for others caught between emerging technologies and the evolving job market.
Others have struggled to adapt. Alex Munyua, an industrial chemist who previously supplemented his income through essay writing, found himself moving into data labeling and social media moderation as his primary work disappeared. With those roles now largely obsolete, he said many former gig workers returned to rural areas or faced frustration trying to secure formal employment.
Researchers estimate that at the sector’s peak in Nairobi, some 40,000 people depended on paid essay writing. This community once embodied a new form of upward mobility made possible by the internet, only to be swiftly undercut by advances in AI technology. The unfolding situation highlights the challenges for countries like Kenya as they navigate the disruptions brought on by rapid technological change.