Rachel Andrew - Generative AI has broken the subject matter expert/editor relationship
Generative AI has broken that contract. Increasingly writers receive content that looks polished, yet contains inaccuracies. This can be because the SME, while polishing their content using AI tools, has missed the fact that the tool has also modified some code or changed the meaning of text. It can also be that the drive for productivity with these tools has meant that people are being asked to cover broader subject areas, so are relying on AI tools for research rather than their own knowledge. AI can be very confidently wrong, and if the text seems clear, it’s possible to miss that it’s clearly nonsense.
Whether productivity gains have broadened who we ask to be experts or experts are missing the polishing effect of an AI "edit", the human editors have to do much more to ensure good content is good and true.