idk guys when i see a lot of similar headlines insisting that editors & authors are all already embracing AI, i don't assume these things are true. i assume there are a lot of very rich people with an unpopular product pushing a particular narrative in my industry!

April 02, 2026 - 15:49 UTC

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this is not conspiratorial! this is the nature of a pay-to-play media landscape, unchecked capital, and a social media environment that thrives on clickbait and outrage!
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To quote George Carlin: "you don't need a formal conspiracy when interests align" nothing aligns interests quicker than money.
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i have the privilege of knowing an above-average number of writers and editors. all of them would spit in their own grandmother's face before they chatgpt-ed their art. my information is anecdotal, but so is the majority of this reporting.
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The McIlroy guy activated my spidey sense — he seems pro-AI integration, or at the very least “there’s no point in avoiding it”, so no wonder he’s annoyed he’s not getting credited on this article, when I’m sure his potential bias was the issue. www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/digital/content-and-e-books/article/94192-on-publishing-s-ai-fears.html
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I remember 10 years or so ago when every media outlet was reporting on how electric cars were TOO quiet to be safe and i was SURE (still am) that this story was planted in the media by the fossil fuel idiots. (Because the primary noise from most cars is wheels against the road.)
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Yes. And electric cars are SO loud.

I didn’t realize it then, but that was my father’s sign of his steepest fall into this right wing bullshit.

The guy that taught me to think critically about and call out bigoted bullshit, that the semi utopian federation and tech could be aspirational… 😮‍💨
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And even if that WAS a problem, there's a simple fix called an external speaker linked to the controls. At worst, you employ a whole bunch of trombone players to make racecar sounds!
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Yeah I was getting my masters in writing when ChatGPT launched and for work now I edit a lot of webinars that talk about AI and pretty much every expert in the field that I’ve spoken to is resistant to it
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My company has several modified versions of AI tools. They're a PITA at best, useless at worst. As a company editor, I understand the pitch: people can't write or edit, let alone at speed. The AI is poor, but fast. "Done" is better than "good," as revisions (many that go to me) are inevitable.
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"all the cool kids are doing it"
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the frequency of these phony headlines is just another confirmation that the bubble WILL pop, they're scrambling
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If I found out my editor had uploaded my work to a slop engine without my consent, my next work would be a non-fiction piece about the mysterious disappearance of an editor.
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as a freelance editor/copy editor person, 2/3 of my clients have specifically said NO AI in their contracts/style guides, which I am very happy to see!
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I don’t believe they are.
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Being able to recognize high pressure sales tactics is really a key to a happy life in many ways.
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i'm smelling "quiet quitting" all over again

narratives are so quickly manufactured these days
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I unfortuntely had a professor in undergrad who was attempting to teach us how to use AI to generate cover art and plan a book launch… No one was pleased. People working in publishing WANT to do their job and do it well. No one who truly loves this art will use AI.
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I am aware of one editor who is simply sending AI manuscripts back with "actually write your manuscript."
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👍
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They made a bad bet and they're forcing us all to go along with it
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When I see "I'm a writer/editor and I use AI" my standard reaction is "Well, sure, there's chumps in every game..."
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In the Guardian's case, they've literally signed a deal with a major AI company, which they conveniently forget to mention every time they roll out one of these pro-AI pieces, of which they have rolled out a ton. It's clear there's a big breach between editorial and sales.
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Distribution is the moat nobody talks about enough.
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You are right. This is how they(ai companies) have been working the whole time. They want to control the narrative and convince normal people that we are all doing it, and that it is "inevitable" despite the massive majority of us actively fighting against them.
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I saw that “I wrote a novel using AI” story. Oh, I thought, you mean “I didn’t write a novel”. Noted the name, so I can avoid accidentally buying anything purportedly “written” by him.
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Apparently that author uses other pen names.

Or at least, I’d assume so when they don’t even write books. It’s all about the cash grab.
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It really gets under my skin how the boosters insist we treat AI like a real intelligence, yet if that were true, then the AI is the true author of that book and deserves the credit, not the person who prompted it.

They transparently want a slave they can extract the labor from.
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I remember people saying chatGPT could write like Shakespeare soon a couple months after the launch and they were also saying it could make movies. Just waiting on the plays, movies, architectural plans and so it supposedly can do. Therapy—it does that sure and gets people to kill themselves.
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The meta verse died this can too
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If it was as good as they say it is, they would not have to flog it so hard.
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Exactly. If people really wanted it, would they be forcing it into every application?
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Exactly this. Word of mouth is NOT working in their favour.
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I have a genuine (probably stupid) question: how does "pay-to-play" media work? Has anyone written about this?

I ask because I've had suspicions about another topic that has received multiple similar articles in the last year, and I suspect they trace back to one person. But how do I prove that?
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As a reader, I have no interest in something written by a machine. As a listener, I have no interest in any music created by a machine as a human being. I have no interest in any “art” created by a machine.
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I do not, have not, and will not use AI.
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same playbook every time. flood trade press with 'everyone's already doing it' pieces until holdouts feel like they're behind. gig economy ran this exact play five years ago, right down to the friendly puff pieces in prestige outlets
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It's like so many others of their evils. ""Everybody is doing it or they want to do it.**
No, only you folks who *can't* do it well or choose not to do it right.
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