AI, AI, that’s all one hears about lately.
AI is presented as the next greatest deal since sliced bread. So what is the fuss all about?
AI has performed well when using search tools and writing computer code based on various computer languages. For instance, one can query AI for code to manipulate an Excel database, and it returns the code within minutes, whereas it would normally take an experienced programmer a longer period of time to write.
AI has increased efficiency in various industries, helped develop early disease detection, enhanced the development of robotic tools, and quickened scientific advancement.
One can ask AI to generate a document on a particular subject that can act as a guide to one’s own writing but not act as the writer’s work product, which ethically requires stating that it is AI-generated.
However, there is a downside to AI. Having queried AI for information related to research for historical information, AI-generated historical dissertations with the wrong names, nonexistent names, or the wrong facts, truly artificial stupidity (AS). Several lawyers have been sanctioned after submitting AI-generated documents to courts citing cases that never existed. (Reuters) AI is not yet smart enough to distill the right information from a database of factual information (AS).
Anthropic is an AI company that is behind the Claude AI model (AI computer program). According to the class action lawsuit filed in 2024, Barz vs. Anthropic, Anthropic downloaded millions of copyrighted books from various dark web libraries to train its AI model without the copyright holders’ permission. In 2025, Anthropic settled a class action lawsuit for $1.5 billion, with funds distributed to approximately a half million authors whose books were subject to copyright violations (AS). This is the largest copyright violation-related settlement in history. (Kluwer)
Writers are often worried about AI because of AI detectors that analyze writing and determine whether a particular document was AI-generated. Students realize that if their report or paper is flagged as generated using AI, they flunk.
If an author uses a good grammar-checking program such as Grammarly to polish their original work, the AI detector may flag it as AI-generated because it is too clean. AI detectors also flag uniform sentence structure as AI-generated. The result is that if one is a good writer with good sentence structure and grammar skills, the work product may be flagged as AI-generated (AS).
Consequently, writers are starting to introduce typos or poor grammar into their work to avoid the stigma of being flagged as AI-generated. (Wall Street Journal) As a result, the use of AI detectors has the unintended consequence of encouraging sloppy grammar.
AI can also be used to generate images and videos. Many videos on the internet look real but are AI-generated, making it difficult to distinguish fact from fiction unless a disclaimer is added that it is AI-generated (often in the fine print or comment section).
AI is a useful tool but does have its downsides. At this time, information generated by AI should be verified by other means, such as reviewing books, past legal matters, manuscripts, or past articles. Because AI detectors are not perfect and unintentionally promote bad writing, the detectors need to be improved to provide more accurate probabilities that the material is AI-generated, fewer false positives, the reasons the material was flagged, and an indication that the assessment is not a sure thing.
Disclaimer: This article was not AI-generated.
Chuck Roberts is a freelance writer in Rochelle.