"I don't read/write anymore, I just use ChatGPT"

If you’ve been paying attention to the conversations around AI, you probably noticed how much discussion there is around reading and writing (or, perhaps more accurately, not reading and not writing). Some claim that instead of reading, they now ask AI to summarize the text for them; others say that instead of reading, they give the key points to AI and ask it to turn them into a text. A few weeks ago this illustration was really popular on the internet:

I read, I write, and I disagree. I’m sure many of you will share this sentiment - that’s why we’re on Substack, right?

For me reading is like breathing. I finish one book and immediately move on to another. You know the popular riddle, “the more you take, the more you leave behind?” That’s my TBR list. It grows faster than bamboo.

In primary school I used to write short stories all the time, but these days I mostly write poems and essay (and personal statements for college...) I also wrote my first academic paper recently, and something tells me there are more to come.

So when someone implicitly mentions that reading and writing can be easily replaced by AI, my inner reader and writer start kicking and screaming.

The main argument in favour of using AI instead of reading is speed and efficiency. Why read an article/book/paper if you can simply ask AI to summarize it for you? So much more efficient that way, and I have to confess, when you have 20+ papers to review before a closely looming deadline, AI summaries is just what you need. Key arguments on the topic of your choice, straight to the point, five minutes and you’re done. Guilty as charged.

But that’s not reading, is it? That’s nothing like being immersed in an article, laser-focused, highlighting sentences that you, not ChatGPT, find relevant. If you’ve been reading long enough, you can almost physically feel your brain form neural pathways. This is not something AI summary can ever provide - not to mention the insights you miss out on when you only focus on key points.

And what about books, both fiction and non-fiction? The process of reading matters just as much as the outcome. The value of a book isn’t only what the author says, it’s also how they say it. To be fair, when people say they use AI instead of reading, they probably refer to scientific or technical literature where the point is the information, not its delivery. Apart from kids who were assigned to read a book they really don’t want to read, I can’t imagine why anyone would use AI for summaries of books - especially since (human-written) book reviews exist for those who do need a summary.

Now onto writing. AI doesn’t feel - doesn’t love, doesn’t suffer, doesn’t experience life like humans do. Sean from Good Will Hunting phrased it perfectly back in 1997:

You don’t have the faintest idea what you’re talking about.

Michelangelo. You know a lot about him. Life’s work. Political aspirations. Him and the Pope. Sexual orientation. The whole works, right? But I bet you can’t tell me what it smells like in the Sistine Chapel. You’ve never actually stood there and looked up at that beautiful ceiling. If I ask you about women, you’d probably give me a syllabus of your personal favorites. But you can’t tell me what it feels like to wake up next to a woman and feel truly happy. If I ask you about war, you’d probably throw Shakespeare at me, right? ‘Once more into the breach, dear friends.’ But you’ve never been near one. You’ve never held your best friend’s head in your lap and watch him gasp his last breath, looking to you for help. If I ask you about love, you’d probably quote me a sonnet. But you’ve never looked at a woman and been totally vulnerable. Known someone who can level you with her eyes.

You’re an orphan, right? Do you think I’d know the first thing about how hard your life has been, how you feel, who you are because I read Oliver Twist? Does that encapsulate you? Personally, I don’t give a shit about all that.

Because you know what? I can’t learn anything from you that I can’t read in some f***ing book.

The whole monologue captures the very essence of AI. It spits out facts, but it doesn’t, and it probably never will, have what it takes to make its output truly authentic.

It’s hard not to notice how “AI-generated” is often used as a synonym for “low quality”. There’s a reason for that; AI is great when generic, seen-it-before, one-off content is needed. This reminds me so much of fast fashion, but with content instead of clothes - ‘fast information’ perhaps? Just like TikTok videos or Instagram reels or YouTube shorts, that kind of content comes and goes, and once it has delivered its dopamine dose, it’s gone forever, along with the time you’ve spent watching it.

Think about Christmas movies on Netflix. You know, the ones they create every winter. They usually involve a predictable plotline and a they-lived-happily-ever-after ending. You can watch them during your winter holidays (I do with my family, too) - there are enough of those movies to last for the whole month. But once you’ve watched one, you’ll probably never want to watch it again. Not necessarily because you didn’t like it, but because there’s nothing more it can offer. You won’t discover anything new by rewatching it simply because there’s nothing to discover at all. No deeper meaning, no Easter eggs you can only spot if you know the movie by heart. Nothing like the good ol’ Home Alone, which no matter how many times you watch, you can’t get tired of.

This is not me saying “they don’t do movies like that anymore” - because they do. They film remarkable movies, they write powerful books, they make unforgettable music. It’s just that for every movie that takes your breath away, there are probably a few dozens of generic comedies that no one will ever quote. For every song like The Unforgiven, there are hundreds of songs that rank No. 1 on Spotify and play on the radio for a month, only to be replaced by the next trendy pop song that sounds exactly the same. AI can replicate it, because the very nature of AI dictates that it reproduce patterns.

Let’s face it: nowadays most content exists to feed the infinite machine of reels, likes, trends and, ironically, data that will get scooped up by AI developers to train their next model. Like SHEIN clothes, this kind of content gets discarded after just a few weeks, and AI excels at its production. Something that will stick around for centuries can only be crafted by a flawed and inefficient human.

Thanks for reading :)