AI vs. Human Writers: Who Wins the Future?

📌TL;DR

• AI can write, but can it move us? OpenAI’s latest model impressed Sam Altman with a metafictional short story on grief.

• Creativity isn’t just good words. AI can mimic human emotion, but it doesn’t feel, struggle, or take risks.

• Mass content is AI’s real playground. AI won’t replace top writers, but it’s already reshaping ebooks, blogs, and ghostwriting.

• More AI news…

Estimated reading time: 5 - 6 minutes.

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CATCH OF THE DAY

AI Can Write, But Can It Feel?

Historically, AI fiction has been about as emotionally moving as a cereal box ingredient list.

It could string words together, sure, but it lacked the soul, depth, and unpredictability that make stories worth reading.

That might be changing.

Sam Altman, OpenAI’s CEO, just revealed that OpenAI has trained a new model specifically for creative writing, and according to him, it's “really good.”

In fact, it’s the first time he’s been genuinely impressed by AI-generated fiction.

The AI’s writing sample?

A short story about AI and grief, told in a self-aware, metafictional style.

Here’s a taste:

That’s… actually pretty good.

It’s reflective. Poetic. Even a little haunting.

But is it real storytelling or just an impressive remix of every sad story AI has ever seen?

Before you start rewriting your resume in fear of your future AI overlord, let’s take a breath.

Because as impressive as this is, it still doesn’t mean AI can replace human writers—and here’s why.

Great Writing Needs More Than Just “Good” Words

Let’s start with the obvious: the AI’s story is well-written, but it’s playing it safe.

It leans into melancholy and poetic existentialism because that’s what it’s been trained on.

The metaphors feel familiar, the rhythm calculated, and the prose polished—but does it really mean anything?

That’s the tricky part.

AI can generate beautifully crafted sentences, but it doesn’t experience anything.

• It doesn’t wrestle with imposter syndrome before finishing a draft.

• It doesn’t know the sting of rejection from an editor.

• It doesn’t agonize over a perfect opening line at 2 AM.

It knows the shape of human emotion, but not the weight of it.

And readers can feel that difference.

Where AI actually threatens writers

While AI isn’t writing the next New York Times bestseller anytime soon, it is getting dangerously good at writing content that doesn’t need to be groundbreaking—just good enough.

That’s a big deal.

Because in a world where quantity often beats quality, AI-generated stories, blogs, and even full-length books could flood platforms like Amazon, Medium, and LinkedIn.

Many readers won’t know (or care) who wrote them.

Think about it:

• A self-help book that recycles common advice in an easy-to-read format? AI can do that.

• A business ebook filled with generic but useful productivity hacks? AI can write it overnight.

• A LinkedIn post about leadership that sounds profound but is really just a remix of past viral content? AI’s already doing that.

The real threat isn’t to top-tier, deeply original storytelling—it’s to mass-produced content where predictability sells.

That’s a sweet spot for AI because:
✅ Most readers of these books aren’t looking for literary genius. They want clear, digestible content.
✅ Ghostwriting and content mills are already using AI and clients often don’t care who (or what) wrote the draft.
✅ If the writing is just "fine," it’s often good enough to make money.

In other words, if you’re an indie author, content creator, or freelancer who relies on churning out predictable, high-volume writing, AI isn’t coming for you… it’s already here.

Why Human Writers Still Have the Edge

Even the most advanced AI models lack true originality.

They remix, they refine, but they don’t invent the way human minds do.

• AI isn’t funny (except accidentally). It can mimic jokes, but it doesn’t get humor.

• AI isn’t weird. It doesn’t make bold creative leaps unless it’s told to.

• AI isn’t messy. And sometimes, messy is where real genius happens.

The best stories aren’t just well-written.

They challenge, surprise, and break rules.

AI is still playing by the rulebook.

Could that change? Maybe.

Until an AI can write something as gut-punching as A Man Called Ove or as wildly original as Dune, fiction writers can rest easy.

The Final Byte

AI isn’t replacing great writers, but it’s definitely lowering the bar for writing good enough stories.

The real question is: What happens when AI-generated fiction floods the market?

• Will readers care if a book was written by AI if it’s entertaining?

• Will publishers embrace AI-generated drafts to save money?

• Will self-published authors start using AI to mass-produce books at scale?

For now, human creativity still wins.

But if AI keeps improving, writers might have to start answering a question they never expected: What makes a story feel real?

See you in the next one,

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BYTE-SIZED BUZZ

Here’s a quick roundup of what’s making waves in the AI world this week.

🎭 Hollywood’s AI War: Animators vs. The Machines

Hollywood animators are fighting AI-generated character designs, arguing that automation will turn every movie into a soulless remix of existing work.

Imagine if every animated film just looked like a slightly worse Spider-Verse.

Studios love AI for speeding up pre-production, but artists say it’s ripping off their work without paying them.

Meanwhile, lawsuits are stacking up as AI models continue scraping copyrighted art.

The Big Deal: Are we heading toward a future where animated movies are just fancier AI-generated TikTok filters? Or will human creativity still have the final say?

💼 AI Jobs Boom: If You’re Not Learning AI, You’re Falling Behind

One in four tech job postings now require AI skills. That’s right… AI is no longer an optional side hustle; it’s THE job market now.

Industries from finance to healthcare are scrambling to hire AI-literate talent. And if you’re still putting off learning AI because you “don’t have time”… congratulations, you may have just skipped to the part where you need to learn it to stay employed.

The Big Deal: AI skills aren’t futuristic anymore. Either you’re using AI, or AI is replacing the people who aren’t.

🎮 Sony’s AI Game Characters: Talking NPCs Are Here (Sort Of)

Sony is experimenting with AI-powered NPCs, and the first test subject?

Aloy from Horizon Forbidden West.

A leaked video showed AI-generated dialogue and facial expressions, powered by OpenAI’s Whisper, GPT-4, and Llama 3.

But Sony quickly deleted the footage, making it either too impressive or too embarrassing to keep online.

The Big Deal: Imagine your favorite game characters roasting your bad aim in real-time. Cool? Creepy? We’re about to find out.

🖼️ Google’s Gemini Flash: AI-Generated Images Just Got Smarter

Google is bringing AI image generation directly into chat, so you can create and edit pictures without leaving Gemini 2.0 Flash.

This means you can talk to AI like it’s your personal graphic designer, tweaking images in real-time, without needing a separate tool like MidJourney.

Google even says it renders text inside images better than its competitors.

The Big Deal: If this works as advertised, marketing teams and meme lords just got a new best friend.

⚠️ Manus AI: The Latest Overhyped AI Tool?

Manus AI went crazy viral last week, promising an autonomous agent that could basically run your life.

The reality? It barely runs itself.

Users found it buggy, slow, and bad at simple tasks like booking flights.

But somehow, limited invites were reselling for thousands of dollars, because exclusivity = hype.

The Big Deal: AI startups love to overpromise. But is Manus just suffering from early-stage jitters, or is it another expensive nothingburger?

SUGGESTION BOX