“Advantage of Human Authors” by Claude A.I.

Good human writers have several distinctive capabilities that AI struggles with or simply cannot do:

They draw from lived experience. A human writer who’s been heartbroken, lost someone, raised a child, or fought through hardship writes about those experiences with authority AI can’t fake. The texture of real memory – the specific smell of a grandmother’s kitchen, the exact quality of light during a pivotal moment – comes from having been there.

They take genuine risks. Human writers can stake their reputation on controversial ideas, write things that might alienate readers, or explore truly uncomfortable territory because they’ve wrestled with it personally. AI is inherently risk-averse, trained to avoid offense and controversy.

They develop a distinctive voice over time. A writer’s voice emerges from their personality, obsessions, and worldview – it’s the accumulation of thousands of choices shaped by who they are. Joan Didion doesn’t sound like David Foster Wallace doesn’t sound like Zadie Smith. AI can mimic styles but doesn’t have an authentic self from which voice naturally emerges.

They make intuitive leaps. Human writers connect disparate ideas in ways that feel surprising yet inevitable – drawing on their particular mix of reading, relationships, and random experiences. They stumble onto metaphors that work precisely because they weren’t systematically generated.

They revise with artistic judgment. While AI can edit for clarity or grammar, humans decide when to break rules for effect, when to leave something intentionally ambiguous, or when rough edges serve the work better than polish. They know the difference between “correct” and “right.”

They have stakes in what they create. A human writer cares whether their work lands, whether it’s honest, whether it matters. That investment shows. Writing that costs something to produce often rewards readers differently than frictionless generation.

They can say “I don’t know.” And mean it genuinely, then explore that uncertainty authentically rather than generating plausible-sounding content regardless.

[Text by Claude A.I., image by Copilot.]