Tuesday, April 7, 2026

The ‘Shy Girl’ Fiasco Shows Why Trust in Writers Is Plummeting; The New York Times, March 25, 2026

 Andrea Bartz , The New York Times; The ‘Shy Girl’ Fiasco Shows Why Trust in Writers Is Plummeting

"But as generative artificial intelligence worms its way through the publishing industry, I’m bracing for a stomach-turning query: Did you actually write this?

The worry has been at the front of my mind since last week, when Hachette canceled the forthcoming U.S. publication of the horror novel “Shy Girl after readers and journalists flagged prose that sounded like A.I. slop. (The author maintains that a freelance editor is to blame for any prose written by a large language model.)

Though I’m against the use of generative A.I. in creative writing, not everyone feels the same way. What does seem clear, however, is that most readers want disclosure when A.I. has been used, and they are quick to note the telltale rhythms and patterns of popular large language models.

But as A.I. models continue to improve, I’m concerned that it will become difficult to distinguish between something written by a human versus a bot. As more A.I.-generated writing is put out in the world, more readers will question whether the text they are poring over was penned by a human. We’re barreling toward a rapid erosion of trust between authors and readers, and the publishing industry is unprepared to deal with the consequences."

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