The act of writing—structuring arguments, choosing words, and building a narrative—is a critical part of the thinking process. Relying too heavily on AI to generate text can cause you to skip this essential step of intellectual labor, resulting in weaker, less-developed ideas.

Relying on AI without applying critical thinking produces "work slop"—outputs that look polished on the surface but lack genuine depth or substance. This can be dangerously misleading and devalues the quality of work by giving a false sense of security.

The real problem with AI-generated text isn't the assistance it provides but when users present AI's words as their own without any critical thinking or editing. This lack of human intellectual input is the modern definition of plagiarism in the age of AI.

Historically, well-structured writing served as a reliable signal that the author had invested time in research and deep thinking. Economist Bernd Hobart notes that because AI can generate coherent text without underlying comprehension, this signal is lost. This forces us to find new, more reliable ways to assess a person's actual knowledge and wisdom.

Submitting generic, unedited AI-generated text or images is perceived negatively by sophisticated audiences. It signals a lack of effort (lazy), an unawareness of its generic appearance (stupid), or an attempt to mislead (evil). This highlights the new social codes emerging around AI usage.

The op-ed format implies a thoughtful, personal argument meant to persuade. When an author uses low-effort, easily detectable AI, it can be perceived by the audience not as a tool for efficiency, but as a sign of disdain for the very act of crafting a persuasive piece, undermining its purpose.

For serious writers, the primary objection to AI-generated text is not about quality but the circumvention of the thinking process. Writing is how ideas are refined and arguments are tested. An LLM executing an outline removes crucial steps where a writer's unique insight is developed.

In the age of AI, 'slop' is not defined by typos or poor formatting, but by well-structured content that lacks a person's unique insight, critical thinking, and accountability. It's the absence of a real, defensible human author behind the words, a problem reviewers can now easily spot.

Historically, well-structured, grammatically correct writing served as a reliable heuristic for an intelligent and serious author. AI completely breaks this connection by allowing anyone to generate perfectly polished prose for any idea, no matter how absurd, removing a key filter for evaluating content.