A perishable ability? The future of writing in the face of generative artificial intelligence

2025-08-26

AI Summary

This study investigates the risk of human writing competence degradation amid the widespread adoption of generative AI, particularly large language models. Method: Employing historical comparative analysis, it pioneers a cross-temporal analogy between contemporary AI-mediated writing dependence and the collapse of literacy during the Greek Dark Ages, thereby constructing a theoretical framework centered on “cognitive atrophy through technological outsourcing.” Integrating insights from the sociology of technology, it critically examines AI dependence’s implications for linguistic expression, metacognitive development, and cultural transmission. Contribution/Results: Findings indicate that sustained delegation of writing tasks to AI may erode pragmatic language competence, critical discursive capacity, and authorial agency in text production. The study provides historical precedent and theoretical grounding for reorienting humanities education in the AI era, underscoring the imperative to deliberately sustain and cultivate autonomous writing practices within technological ecosystems.

Technology Category

• Humans and AI: Other Foundations of Human Computation & AI
• Cognitive Modeling & Cognitive Systems: Computational Creativity
• Philosophy and Ethics of AI: Artificial General Intelligence

Application Category

• Social Networks and Social Media: Generative AI / large language models and their impact on social systems
• Economics, Online Markets and Human Computation: Economic ramifications for generative AI infrastructure and applications
• Responsible Web: Machine-in-the-loop, human agency and autonomy

Abstract

The 2020s have been witnessing a very significant advance in the development of generative artificial intelligence tools, including text generation systems based on large language models. These tools have been increasingly used to generate texts in the most diverse domains -- from technical texts to literary texts --, which might eventually lead to a lower volume of written text production by humans. This article discusses the possibility of a future in which human beings will have lost or significantly decreased their ability to write due to the outsourcing of this activity to machines. This possibility parallels the loss of the ability to write in other moments of human history, such as during the so-called Greek Dark Ages (approx. 1200 BCE - 800 BCE).

Problem

• Human writing ability decline due to AI outsourcing
• Generative AI reducing human text production volume
• Historical parallels of lost writing capabilities

Innovation

• Analyzes generative AI text systems impact
• Compares historical writing ability losses
• Discusses human writing outsourcing risks