It's one of those topics that comes up over drinks or dinner at the moment: whether or not you think AI is going to steal your job. So far, I've felt relatively confident that while AI could no doubt have a fair crack at writing a newspaper opinion column, there is something I do as part of my work that AI cannot: reporting. Except now, it seems, AI is claiming to be doing that as well. Last week, it was revealed that at least six reputable publications have had to take down published articles because it turned out that they were probably pieces of fiction written by AI and then passed off by somebody as works of journalism under the name of Margaux Blanchard. One of these was a piece for Wired titled They Fell in Love Playing Minecraft.

A couple of days ago, the U.K.-based YA author Melinda Salisbury wrote online: "Every time I write a character frowning now, I remember Americans think this is something you do with your mouth, and it ruins it." Soon after, I, a British person, logged into Slack to find my American Slate colleagues discussing this tweet. I read the conversation, and frowned. By which I mean I furrowed my brow, looking confusedly at the screen. Because that is what a frown is.