The Threat of AI to the Human Act of Writing and Thinking

Summary

The article explores how AI, particularly tools like Google's "Help Me Write," threatens the fundamental human act of writing by offering shortcuts through the natural gaps and impasses inherent in the writing process. The author argues that AI's ability to generate language bypasses the essential struggle of thinking that gives writing its meaning, making contemporaneous self-reflexivity a necessary precondition for anyone writing about AI today. The piece critiques the dehumanizing effect of AI on creative and intellectual work, emphasizing the need to actively preserve thinking as the medium in which language is generated.