Not beating the AI allegations...

Plus: Daniel Lavery's book advances, a Cosmo podcast ripoff, and another predictable move from Substack.

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Not beating the AI allegations…

In no way should a media_gossip poll be interpreted as representative of the entire industry, but I was surprised by the results of last week’s question about AI:

I assumed no one was actually worried about their own writing sounding like an LLM’s, but over half of respondents say they have altered their writing style to avoid any comparisons, and I can’t blame them: accusations of AI use are the latest thing a Reddit thread or X replier turns to whenever they want to invalidate a piece of writing they didn’t like. But unlike calling the writer stupid or the piece hacky—which are hurtful but subjective opinions anyone is entitled to—AI accusations can carry professional weight if enough people agree with them.

As Ed Zitron and I discussed in a recent episode of ICYMI, there’s really no way of knowing if AI-writing detectors like Pangram are 100% accurate. And, in a bizarre turn of events, the writer whose Commonwealth Prize short story was accused of being AI-generated just won the overall prize after the foundation did their own investigation, and “detailed discussions” and “working drafts, time-stamped documents and notes” left them satisfied that Jamir Nazir’s story was, in fact, not AI.

The issue is not “who is right,” but that we will never know. As soon as one person makes an AI accusation that picks up steam, the accused can’t do much other than say “no it’s not” and hope for the best. I can see why, then, most of us are doing whatever we can to prevent ending up in that situation in the first place. Even though I’m curious what trying not to sound like AI even reads like…

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Nick’s 80-year-old mom’s favorite Substacks, in her words

• Mindy OkayIloveyoubyebye: She’s funny and lives in Newport. Her early life was very difficult. She does not suffer fools gladly. Her language is very salty. She has a strong dislike of DJT.

• Salwa: She is a single mom, living in London. She has two sons; one is mildly autistic. She often writes about the absurdity of her life. She has a sense of humor and is working towards an advanced degree.

• In Otter News: sublimely silly

• Laurie Marbas, MD, MBA: She explains simple basic rules to stay healthy. She has a great sense of perspective and did a whole essay on a baby toe.

• Hannah Brown: Cancer survivor. She’s young, lovely, and as time passes she blossoms emotionally and is coming to terms with her health.

• Heather Cox Richardson: An educated, pragmatic historian who lives in Maine. Every statement is fact based. She should be President!

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I’m normally skeptical of the many (many) claims that appear on Substack that so-and-so mainstream publication ripped off so-and-so’s blog post, but this one’s pretty cut and dry: