Source: Washington Post
by Megan McArdle
“If the proliferation of AI writing is a problem, it’s not because it’s terrible slop unfit for human consumption; it’s a problem because in some specific ways, it’s too good. It is the literary equivalent of fast food: convenient, cheap, hyper-consistent and relentlessly optimized to tickle our pleasure centers. Sure, AI produces some crazy metaphors and weird hallucinations, because the models have all of our text and none of our context. On the other hand, AI is really good at optimizing for readability, both stylistically and structurally. … as with fast food, what people want now isn’t necessarily good for them in the long run.” (05/31/26)