Publishous

The essence of life

Follow publication

Member-only story

AI Can Write, But It’ll Never Understand What Makes Us Human

Matt Lillywhite
Publishous
Published in
5 min readFeb 24, 2025
A man typing on his laptop. ChatGPT is open on the screen. His fingers are hovering over the keyboard.
A man using ChatGPT on his laptop. Photo by Matheus Bertelli from Pexels

Sunlight slips through the blinds of my apartment, throwing uneven gold stripes across the floor. I take a slow sip of coffee, eyes fixed on the headline glowing from my laptop screen.

“ChatGPT launches boom in AI-written e-books on Amazon.”

I click, expecting clickbait. Some overhyped claim that won’t mean much. But as I scroll, my coffee cools in my hands.

I glance around the living room. The stack of books. The blanket crumpled on the couch. My girlfriend’s shoes by the door. This space, this life, the little moments that mean everything. And for the first time, it feels fragile. Like it could all disappear, one line of code at a time.

When I was a teenager, my best friend died in a tragic accident. Joe was hit by a train days before his birthday. Spent the final moments of his life alone in the pouring rain. I wasn’t there. But I’ve imagined it a thousand times. The screech of metal. The sudden silence that followed.

Joe and I were inseparable. We sang along to cheesy pop songs, shared secrets nobody else would know, and stayed up way too late writing stories. I can still…

Create an account to read the full story.

The author made this story available to Medium members only.
If you’re new to Medium, create a new account to read this story on us.

Or, continue in mobile web

Already have an account? Sign in

Matt Lillywhite
Matt Lillywhite

Written by Matt Lillywhite

Storyteller and part-time procrastinator. Writing to inspire, entertain, and avoid doing laundry. Substack: https://mattlillywhite.substack.com/subscribe

Write a response