AI Rivalry as a Craft: How Resisting and Embracing Generative AI Reshape Writing Professions

2025-03-12

AI Summary

This study investigates how generative artificial intelligence (GAI) reshapes professional writing practices through dual pathways of “acceptance” and “resistance.” Drawing on in-depth interviews with 25 practitioners and integrating job crafting theory with grounded-theory coding, it identifies four role-adaptation strategies, synthesized into two overarching paradigms: resistance-oriented (reinforcing professional identity, credibility, and human distinctiveness) and empowerment-oriented (optimizing workflows, reducing cognitive load, and enabling human–AI collaboration)—yielding eight actionable practice strategies. The research offers the first systematic account of bidirectional professional adaptation to GAI, extending job crafting theory into human–AI collaborative contexts. It introduces novel conceptual constructs—including “AI-managed labor”—and provides both a theoretical framework and empirically grounded pathways for writing professionals navigating AI integration.

Technology Category

• Humans and AI: Game Design — Procedural Content Generation & Storytelling
• Cognitive Modeling & Cognitive Systems: Adaptive Behavior
• Multiagent Systems: Agent/AI Theories and Architectures

Application Category

• Economics, Online Markets and Human Computation: Trust and reliance of crowd workers and data experts on GenAI
• Social Networks and Social Media: Generative AI / large language models and their impact on social systems
• Search and Retrieval-Augmented AI: Agentic search

Abstract

Generative AI (GAI) technologies are disrupting professional writing, challenging traditional practices. Recent studies explore GAI adoption experiences of creative practitioners, but we know little about how these experiences evolve into established practices and how GAI resistance alters these practices. To address this gap, we conducted 25 semi-structured interviews with writing professionals who adopted and/or resisted GAI. Using the theoretical lens of Job Crafting, we identify four strategies professionals employ to reshape their roles. Writing professionals employed GAI resisting strategies to maximize human potential, reinforce professional identity, carve out a professional niche, and preserve credibility within their networks. In contrast, GAI-enabled strategies allowed writers who embraced GAI to enhance desirable workflows, minimize mundane tasks, and engage in new AI-managerial labor. These strategies amplified their collaborations with GAI while reducing their reliance on other people. We conclude by discussing implications of GAI practices on writers' identity and practices as well as crafting theory.

Problem

• Explores how generative AI reshapes writing professions.
• Investigates resistance and adoption strategies among writing professionals.
• Examines impact of AI on professional identity and workflows.

Innovation

• Semi-structured interviews with writing professionals
• Job Crafting theory to analyze GAI strategies
• Identified resisting and embracing GAI strategies