I’ve been thinking more about this since Andrea Bartz’s brilliant op-ed in the NYT and guest spot on Brian Lehrer this week: She made such smart points about the TRUST between authors and readers and how even the specter of AI can erode it.

And I think that’s part of why these AI-generated comments are so upsetting to me: If I get a comment that’s written a little oddly, my immediate instinct is that it’s AI, and I don’t want to engage with it. But what if that was a real person’s actual sentiment, just expressed a little strangely, and I’m just ignoring them and missing out on a chance for genuine connection? The possibility that comments could be AI-generated is destroying the otherwise lovely trust that exists between a writer and readers here.

The best thing about being on this platform is that it’s so human-driven: Please do not be part of destroying that.