The Parrot in the Machine

James Gleick · 25 Jul 2025

The piece opens with

Chatbots do not write; they rearrange fragments of earlier text, and as plagiarists they obscure their sources without transcending them.

Their wordsChatbots regurgitate and rearrange fragments mined from all the text previously written. As plagiarists, they obscure and randomize their sources but do not transcend them.

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Every claim below was made in this piece, quoted word for word and numbered in the order the piece makes them, so you can read it there rather than take our word for it. The sentence above each quote is our reading of the claim, not their wording. Each quote was checked against a stored copy of the page at build time; where the two differ, the quote is the fact.

Our reading
Chatbots do not write; they rearrange fragments of earlier text, and as plagiarists they obscure their sources without transcending them.

Their wordsChatbots regurgitate and rearrange fragments mined from all the text previously written. As plagiarists, they obscure and randomize their sources but do not transcend them.
Our reading
For now the greatest danger from AI is not bigotry against machines but machines impersonating people.

Their wordsFor now, however, the greatest danger is not a new brand of bigotry against a new class of creatures. We need to reckon first with the opposite problem: impersonation.
Our reading
Replacing human employees with AI without humans checking the output is reckless.

Their wordsWithout humans checking the output, replacing sentient employees with AI is reckless, and it is only beginning.
Our reading
The Turing test is done, and what it has proven is that people can be fooled.

Their wordsThe Turing test is done. We’ve proven that we can be fooled.

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