Hello, you.

I write these words as a person, as full of contradictions and complex as you are.

Generative AI will never come as close as what you and I have right now as you read these words: a connection.

You and I have a deeper connection than we think.

You and I can’t help ourselves but fart at inconvenient times.

You and I must sleep.

You and I have to grapple with not having enough money, time, or love.

You and I had years of true freedom in our early childhoods. The same freedom that gave rise to our idiosyncracies that make us who we are.

You and I wonder what we should do now and what we should want tomorrow.

So hello, you. My friend. My name is Nick, and I’m a human writer.

PAUSE

Now imagine if I told you everything above was written with a prompt to some generative AI system. How different would it feel?

I wrote this tiny post after reading two articles talking about the place of writers in society in 2023 and beyond, now that generative AI can produce high quality content at almost zero cost: How to Survive as a Human Creator in the AI Era and The AI revolution is an opportunity for writers (the human kind). I had no existential butterfly fluttering in my stomach.