“On gray literature and Webster’s Timeline History books.”
artificial intelligence
Posted inQuestionnaire
The Longreads Questionnaire, Featuring Vauhini Vara
The author of Searches: Selfhood in the Digital Age and The Immortal King Rao on memorable meals and books about whales.
Posted inEditor's Pick
Politics After Literacy
“Postliteracy won’t replace reason with madness, but it might give us madness of a new and different type.”
Posted inCuration
The Top 5 Longreads of the Week
In this edition: a father’s grief; a commuter’s concern; a decision’s consequences; a teen’s hobby; and a sports fan’s hidden haven.
Posted inEditor's Pick
Hallucinated Citations Are Polluting the Scientific Literature. What Can Be Done?
“Tens of thousands of publications from 2025 might include invalid references generated by AI, a ‘Nature’ analysis suggests.”
Posted inEditor's Pick
The Bottom of the Ninth
“In baseball and in life, there is a cost to our pursuit of an error-free existence.”
Posted inEditor's Pick
You Could Be Next
“Laid-off lawyers, history PhDs, and scientists are now part of a miserable gig economy in which they’re teaching AI how to do their old jobs.”
Posted inTop 5
The Top 5 Longreads of the Week
In this edition: Lost soul, copy that, missing beats, muzzled watchdogs, and a ramblin’ man.
Posted inEditor's Pick
Teacher v Chatbot: My Journey Into the Classroom in the Age Of AI
“Throwing AI into the mix felt like downing a coffee in the middle of a panic attack.”
Posted inEditor's Pick
Recursive Resemblance
“On the feedback loops of mimesis, from the ancients to AI.”