Maris Kreizman on the Growing Threat of AI and Cultural Devaluation

For those who have spent their lives immersed in the world of books and publishing. The claim that “people don’t read anymore” has long been familiar. Every decade seems to bring a new “crisis” for the written word. In August, reports revealed that reading for pleasure has dropped by 40% over the past two decades. A continuation of a long-standing decline fueled by the rise of radio, television, video games, and now, the internet. Yet, somehow, readers have always endured.

But a new kind of existential threat is now emerging, one that feels more insidious than any before. A recent Slate article titled “The Case for Whole Books” by Dan Sinykin and Joanna Winant revealed a troubling reality: due to standardized testing systems that emphasize excerpts over full texts, an entire generation of students is growing up without experiencing complete works of literature.

At the same time, the Baffler published Noah McCormack’s piece “We Used to Read Things in This Country,” which argued that artificial intelligence is accelerating the decline of traditional education. As schools increasingly introduce AI into classrooms while funding for higher education dwindles. McCormack suggests we may be witnessing a deliberate erosion of intellectual engagement.

While it’s easy to dismiss such warnings as alarmist. The growing influence of Big Tech and AI does seem to be reshaping cultural values. The world is awash with more content than ever before, but true art, and the artists behind it, are struggling to survive.

In the late 1990s, employers often prized candidates with humanities degrees for their ability to think critically and communicate effectively. Today, those same skills reading comprehension, writing, and creative problem-solving are undervalued in a job market that increasingly rewards automation and speed over substance.

The collapse of cultural journalism mirrors this trend. Once-robust platforms like Entertainment Weekly, once a hub for thoughtful engagement with books, film, music, and theater, now exist as reduced digital versions of their former selves. The space for serious cultural criticism is shrinking fast.

Corporate dominance across industries has also squeezed the “creative middle class.” Whether it’s Amazon’s impact on book publishing, Spotify’s on music, or Netflix’s on film and television. Large companies have commodified creativity to the point where most artists can no longer make a sustainable living from their work.

Now, with the rapid growth of generative AI, the situation has reached a new tipping point. This trillion-dollar industry thrives on the work of human creators often without credit or compensation. AI-generated writing blurs the line between originality and plagiarism, eroding our respect for human creativity and critical thought. Even publishing executives are now praising AI for its efficiency, seemingly overlooking its potential to devalue the very writers their industry depends on.

Despite these challenges, there is still hope. Artists and writers continue to find ways to create, resist, and adapt. Curiosity remains a uniquely human trait and one that technology cannot replicate. If we can preserve that desire to learn, explore, and understand. Then perhaps the act of reading and finishing an entire book simply to see how it ends, can still endure as a quiet act of rebellion.

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