Measure For  Measure, AI is Wanting — So What?

As a freelance writer, there’s always been a part of me that constantly worries about a new form of technology rendering my job obsolete.

The big one is artificial intelligence. It’s something that’s been talked about for years, but it’s become all-encompassing in 2025. Everywhere you look, companies are pivoting towards AI, whether it’s Microsoft’s Copilot, Meta AI or ChatGPT. These companies have all sought to reassure workers that AI is only being used to streamline certain menial tasks, not to  replace them.But with so many layoffs happening around the world, it’s easy to see why people are worried.

I’ve been vaguely aware of generative AI tools like ChatGPT, which are designed to produce texts and images, among other outputs. While there is still that part of me that worries, I’ve always had the belief that I’ll find work because my own writing is better than an AI.

Having tried out generative AI myself, I now have a new worry: that it might not matter. 

Note here that generative AI (original and creative) is bolder than traditional AI (analytical and predictive). 

My experience judging generative AI

Despite my ethical objections to generative AI, I figured that I should at least try it out to see what exactly I was dealing with. As part of a recent article about how students are using AI to study, I decided to experiment with a tool to see what it was capable of.

My request was simple: Explain the pros and cons of using AI to study and present it in a table format. It did that, but it didn’t do it very well.

There were countless spelling mistakes, the table of pros and cons wasn’t completely symmetrical, and it randomly cut off at the end, halfway through the final point.

Generative AI isn’t very good, but does that even matter?

At first, I was relieved. While generative AI could potentially become a useful tool down the road, it would never be capable of producing high-quality writing that would put people like me out of a job. But then I remembered finding  a major internet article written by AI.

It was about the best order to watch the Star Wars movies and TV shows. It was full of glaring mistakes, getting basic information about the timeline wrong and littered with obvious spelling mistakes. Maybe it would have seemed better to someone completely unfamiliar with the series, but even though I don’t consider myself an expert in Star Wars, I’m 100% certain that I could have written a better article.

This wasn’t found on some random no-name website; it was a highly-respected TV and video game site that has produced quality content in the past. Seeing such a poorly written, obviously AI-generated piece there was galling.

Fast forward a few years later, and generative AI is everywhere. So many ostensibly respectable outlets publishing obviously AI content, and sites like Facebook and YouTube drowning in a sea of low-effort slop.

Even if generative AI improves in the future, I doubt it’ll ever be a better writer than I am. 

All right, I hope it won’t be better than me. Than I.  

This thought hasn’t changed, but I’m increasingly worried that it might not even matter anymore. As more of the internet descends into AI, I might find myself out of a job.

What comes next?

As companies around the world go all in on AI, it can feel hopeless to push back. Yet I remain confident that there is, and always will be, a place for genuine human writing on the internet. You can see it on sites like Patreon: people are ready to financially support writers producing original, thought-provoking pieces. The future might look scary, but I’m convinced that there is still demand for flawed-but-human articles and that over time this demand will spell the end of generative AI as a replacement for real people. 

We will continue to matter, even as “an unperfect actor on the stage.” And if Shakespeare can be unperfect, so can we still succeed.

I don’t think for a second that I’m a generationally talented storyteller, far from it. There are far better writers out there than me. Than I. But I like my work. I am proud of it. And even as technology moves ever forward, I continue to believe that I’ll find a home for my work. 

That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.