By and Byline

“Of course I used AI. I’m not embarrassed by it. I write everything using AI now for the same reason I use a calculator when I do math problems.” That was billionaire investor Stanley Druckenmiller responding to complaints that his recent WSJ editorial was found to be 100% AI generated. The WSJ’s editorial page editor, Paul Gigot, also doesn’t see a problem. “‘AI is a fact of modern life,’ he said in a statement … Gigot followed up with a full column on the subject, mocking the ‘media pharisees’ who wag their fingers at automated writing … ‘Many contributors, especially prominent politicians or CEOs, employ speechwriters or hire a Beltway writing shop,’ he wrote. ‘How different is that from using AI to streamline an essay?'” Will Oremus in The Atlantic (Gift Article): A Turning Point in AI Writing.

+ Before too long, articles may be specifically labeled as artisanal if they have any human elements at all. An online newspaper covering SF is made up entirely of AI reporters. “Each ‘reporter’ has its own beat, bio and persona. Park, for instance, is ‘skeptical of hype.’ Casey Wong, the metro reporter, writes that they ‘notice the texture of a block — who’s been here 30 years, who just moved in.’ Drew Bennett, The Dissent’s local events reporter, ‘knows what’s worth your Saturday.’ Hal Brenner, the site’s managing editor, is ‘terse, exacting, fair.'”