The best weapon against AI slop is a good lunch
City PM is rightly campaigning against AI slop but the best answer to the advance of the robots is human connection, and that’s what journalism and PR are best at, says James Millar
Some years ago a leading mathematician, genuinely one of the cleverest people in the country, reassured me that AI would not make me redundant.
While he waxed lyrical about the raw mathematics that sustains AI, his argument went that the very fact we were discussing this over a pint in an Edinburgh pub demonstrated where future value lay. In humanity. The stuff that AI can replicate but not recreate.
He said that my worth would derive not from my writing – bit of a blow to a journalist of 30 years standing – but in the other skills that come with journalism and PR. The ability to make a connection, spot a human story, to not just write but to spin a yarn, and – yes – to buy someone a coffee, a drink or a good lunch.
I was sceptical. The economy has always struggled to put a price on qualities like empathy, likeability, experience. Wisdom over bald knowledge.
But recent events have persuaded me, and it is where I respectfully disagree with Emma Divers recent opinion article. She argued against AI detectors that are hell bent on killing off em dashes and that lead to human authors bending their writing out of shape in order to get past the AI gatekeepers.
Creativity, collaboration and coffee
But rather than going all Ned Ludd and seeking to trash the machines there is a more positive solution. Humans. Would a robot make the leap to quote a naff line from Star Wars to underline its point? Unlikely. I will. Rose tells Finn, “We’re going to win this war not by fighting what we hate, but saving what we love!”
And what we love in writing and PR – or at least ought to – is creativity, collaboration, and coffee.
Like Emma, I too write articles for clients and increasingly worry that they may get flagged by AI detectors for using standard syntax and common vocabulary. I recently submitted something on behalf of a prestigious client to a prestigious outlet, one I really did not want to be blacklisted from. How to convince the editor there that it was all my own work? A phone call. Not an email or a WhatsApp but a quick conversation that reinforced the trust developed from knowing each other for years. When I told her there was no AI in it she knew I wouldn’t bullshit her, she would be able to tell from the tone of my voice if I was lying.
A simple solution and one that is almost entirely AI proof.
But this requires effort from both sides. City PM’s commitment to be free of AI copy is admirable. It’s disappointing that others have not publicly rallied to that particular flag. But outlets of every description will need to give staff the time, responsibility and flexibility to build relationships – likely over food and drink. This requires investment – in time, and in expenses budgets. This is not a rallying call for a return to times gone by when business was done according to old school tie and too many were excluded due to gender, race or background. We can and must do better than that.
But the prize is not just better copy but a better world built on trust that is built, respect that is earned, and work rooted in fulfilling human connection.
James Millar is senior counsel at Connect