"It wasn't that I was replaced by AI — people stopped reading"

Austin Harvey landed his dream staff writing job at All That's Interesting the day after his 26th birthday. It felt like he'd finally made it — after years of freelancing, bartending on the side, and hustling for bylines, he had a salary, health insurance, and a team of coworkers he genuinely liked.

For three years and seven months, he threw himself into the work. He wrote more than 1,200 articles covering history, science, and true crime. He co-hosted over 100 episodes of the History Uncovered podcast. He turned podcast clips into short-form video content to grow their social presence. He wore multiple hats because he wanted to make himself invaluable.

"I chose to believe that my job, now that I'd earned it, was safe," he says. "Perhaps I was in denial. Mostly, I was afraid of going back to that uncertain, unstable time before I'd had a salary."

The cracks started showing in 2024. Editors quit and weren't replaced. The team shrank from 12 to 7. Search traffic fell steadily as Google changed SEO rules and — most importantly — readers started getting their answers directly from AI chatbots instead of clicking through to articles.

Harvey wasn't worried about being replaced by AI writing tools. His editors made it very clear they would never publish AI-generated articles. He believed in the value of human writing. He was foolish to think none of this would affect him.

He was called into a meeting at the end of January 2026 and told he was being let go. As the newest hire on the team, he'd known he was vulnerable.

"There were no hard feelings," he says. "I even left feeling somewhat optimistic about the future, the free time I now had, and what I could do with it."

But February in Pittsburgh is brutal — gray skies, bitter cold, and the weight of uncertainty. He fell into a depressive state. Some mornings he'd break down over his credit score and dwindling savings. Other mornings he'd feel more creative and driven than ever. The $650 monthly student loan payment didn't help.

What keeps him going is community — friends, colleagues, his partner. He's surrounded by creative, ambitious people who push him to be more creatively ambitious.

"At the end of the day, community is what matters most," he says. "And I'm damn lucky to have a good one."

He's still figuring out what comes next. More freelancing? Podcasting? Teaching? The stability of a staff job that he once chased like a fairy tale — that's gone, and he knows it won't be coming back.