Ted Chiang in the New Yorker

The programmer Simon Willison has described the training for large language models as "money laundering for copyrighted data," which I find a useful way to think about the appeal of generative-A.I. programs: they let you engage in something like plagiarism, but there's no guilt associated with it because it's not clear even to you that you're copying.

Philip Larkin

on the shore
Of the wide world I stand alone, and think
Till love and fame to nothingness do sink.