About this episode

Steven Johnson discusses the implications of AI on writing and the ethical considerations of using AI as a collaborator.

Steven Johnson spent decades figuring out the best ways to turn his research into words on the page. Now, he’s adapting those methods for Gemini Notebook, Google’s AI-powered interactive bibliography. (Until recently, it was called NotebookLM.) But in building a tool designed to synthesize ideas, is there a risk of taking humans too far out of the writing process? In conversation with The Atlantic’s Nicholas Thompson, Johnson discusses the best practices, ethics, and limitations of using AI as a collaborator. The Atlantic has a licensing agreement with Gemini Notebook, and Google also advertises with The Atlantic. This episode was not a part of those deals. Produced independently of The Atlantic’s editorial staff. Supporting sponsor: PwC. (00:00) Introduction (05:10) The evolution of Steven's writing process  (08:22) Managing the "iceberg" of research (11:45) The ethics of AI-assisted writing (19:02) What happens when AI becomes as good at writing as humans (24:17) Why some genres could change drastically with AI (29:10) How AI might undo polarization  (34:45) Designing educational guardrails for AI (44:26) What will AI do to writing styles? (49:10) Licensing author…

People in this episode

Host: Nicholas Thompson

Guest: Steven Johnson

Topics covered

• AI-assisted writing
• ethics of AI
• writing process
• collaboration with AI
• impact of AI on genres
• educational guardrails for AI
• licensing author personas

Keywords

• AI writing
• Gemini Notebook
• ethics
• writing styles
• collaboration
• research synthesis
• polarization
• educational guardrails

Sponsors

PwC

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Google, The Atlantic

Products: Gemini Notebook, NotebookLM

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