Sam Kemp says: AI is an uncanny, even comic presence, powerful yet prone to failure, always close to, but never quite reaching, human nuance. A recurring failure is AI’s inability to grasp ambiguity, error, vulnerability, or contradiction—core elements of meaningful poetic expression. While AI might aid in ideation, its efficiency also threatens to reinforce a culture of instant gratification and devalue the slow, exploratory nature of creative labor. Creative writing is fundamentally relational, driven by human experience and the search for connection—something AI mimics without understanding. The future is likely to involve AI-produced literature as increasingly mainstream, prompting counter-movements that reassert human messiness and meaning. AI’s imagination is derivative, found by data, lacking memory shaped by imperfection or emotion. Nonetheless, AI might catalyze new creative practices precisely by provoking resistance. Without critical engagement, AI risks replicating historical patterns of exploitation, commodifying both labor and literature, and eroding the values that make art transformative and culturally alive.