Katherine Kirby worked as a translator for years, with an art history degree, fluency in two languages, and operations management experience. But as AI translation tools became widespread, her work almost completely vanished.
"This month (August 2025) there's some occasional work coming in, but it's so sporadic and unreliable that I can no longer depend on this career to pay my bills."
"I don't know what to do next. I'm 44. I've already changed careers before, but the job market is terrible. With all my experience — translation, operations management, an art history degree, fluency in two languages, still learning — I feel like I might as well just go clean offices. At least that's stable work, and it hasn't been replaced by AI yet."
She ended with: "I wonder: after they drive all of us out of work, who's going to buy the products and services capitalism needs sold?"