Hugh Howey reflects on the transformation of writing and publishing brought by artificial intelligence, marking the end of a roughly decade-long era where writing was difficult but publishing was accessible and affordable. He highlights how AI-generated books are now competing with human-authored works, leading to challenges in proving authorship authenticity and reshaping readers’ and publishers’ attitudes. Howey predicts that future literary culture will include coexistence of AI-created and human-authored “meat books,” new tools to document writing processes, and evolving author-reader interactions shaped by AI assistance.
The End of an Era
