AI dismantles Kenya’s academic essay-writing economy

Artificial intelligence has significantly undermined Kenya's once-flourishing academic ghostwriting industry, diminishing demand, fees, and livelihoods for thousands of skilled freelancers who had built careers by completing assignments for university students overseas. This shift has become evident four years after the launch of ChatGPT.

Writers who once handled a consistent pipeline of essays, dissertations, and coursework for clients in the United States and Britain report diminishing orders as students increasingly rely on generative AI to produce assignments independently. Researchers had projected that at least 40,000 individuals in Nairobi were involved in the business at its height in the early 2020s.

Teresios Bundi, a 34-year-old who entered the trade after moving to Nairobi for university in 2011, estimates that he authored over 2,500 papers across a decade, sometimes juggling three assignments daily. After graduating with a public health degree in 2015, he transformed essay writing into a business, charging between $40 to $70 per paper.

The income was notably higher than conventional employment options available to him. Bundi explained that the work paid at least five times more than what he could have earned as a public health professional, enabling him to support his family and employ students to meet demand. This sector has since collapsed with the advent of AI-generated writing, which is now cheap, swift, and readily accessible to the same overseas customers who previously compensated Kenyan freelancers.

The decline was apparent shortly after generative AI became widely available. A Kenyan writer known as Collins reported in 2023 that his monthly income plummeted from approximately $900-$1,200 to $500-$800 as assignments dwindled. Another student writer, Wade Brian, noted his workload decreased from as many as 60 assignments monthly to fewer than 10 during a previously peak period.

The competition has also altered the nature of the remaining work. Some writers now specialize in editing AI-produced essays to make them appear more natural or evade university detection systems. Others utilize AI to generate initial drafts and then rewrite them, expediting the process for each job but also reducing the amount of human labor clients are willing to purchase.

Alphline, a writer who joined the industry in 2021, continues to secure work by merging AI-generated drafts with her own editing. This experience contrasts with many former ghostwriters who have exited the sector, indicating that while AI has not entirely eliminated assignments, it has substantially altered what clients pay humans to do.

The collapse of the ghostwriting industry has broader implications for Kenya's digital labor market, where online freelancing has been marketed as an employment route for graduates facing scarce salaried opportunities. Kenya's National Skills Development Policy regards gig work as a significant avenue for independent workers and highlights the Ajira program, which trains young people to access online jobs.

A 2024 study by the International Labour Organization found writing, including academic and article writing, to be a prominent online freelancing sector in Kenya due to strong English proficiency. However, the study also highlighted persistent challenges such as insufficient work, low earnings, and weak social protection, emphasizing the vulnerability of workers reliant on fluctuating digital platforms and foreign demand.

This vulnerability extends beyond essay writing. Former academic writer Alex Munyua transitioned into data labelling and social media moderation after ghostwriting waned, yet found those avenues contracting as well. Richard Eshilache, who employed over 100 writers in 2022, shifted towards photo editing and data annotation but discovered the new work paid less.

AI had previously disrupted another Kenyan online occupation before the essay market declined. Frida Mwangi, who had worked in transcription, reported that automated transcription software gradually reduced available assignments and depressed wages. She later became an advocate for improved conditions for outsourcing workers.