AP Stylebook bans anthropomorphizing AI; Ari Schulman pushes back on the framing

deanwball · x · 2026-09-25

AP Stylebook issued guidance that AI systems do not think, feel, want or understand, and that journalists should avoid anthropomorphizing language — instead explaining what a system does, how well it performs, who built it and who is affected.

The New Atlantis editor Ari Schulman quotes the guidance and offers an alternate response: rather than defensively insisting thinking is uniquely human, accept that "thinking" has borne enormous weight in our view of what makes us us — that pillar has taken a real blow, and something else must now bear more. Dean Ball amplified the exchange.

Related event: AP Stylebook Bans Anthropomorphizing AI, Drawing Widespread Backlash(13 posts)→

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