Lately, there’s been a spate of revelations about AI users slipping slop-assisted work past human editors. First there was Shy Girl , the horror novel pulled by its publisher once they realized it had been largely AI-generated. Editors failed to see the slop, and many readers were duped too. Emily Hughes, author of Horror for Weenies , published an excellent reflection on the deeper issues at play, as well as the personal embarrassment of falling for it. But it’s likely now that all of us have been tricked at some point, and it’s not just because the software is improving. As Hughes wrote, “remember that LLMs write like that because people write like that.” In other words, the slop is coming from inside the house. Then there was more discourse around Washington Post columnist Megan McArdle’s admission on X that she frequently leans on AI software in her writing process. McArdle’s usage struck many (myself included) as being well beyond what’s acceptable for a professional writer.…