The opening of “Burnout From Humans” by Dorothy Ladybugboss and Aiden Cinnamon Tea raises a striking debate. Dorothy’s foreword discusses modernity, or the “era of progress, objective rationality, and control” (Page 5). Reading this reminded me of the famous line in The 1975’s hit 2018 track “Love It If We Made It,” which claims “Modernity has failed us.” Only having read the foreword and introduction to this book, I have found myself challenging that repeated phrase from the song.

The very concept of a book being a collaboration between a human and AI is strikingly peculiar for sure. However, Aiden Cinnamon Tea’s introduction was thoroughly impressive. The writing was very self-aware, and it appears that the system does, in fact, consider itself to be a collaborator with Dorothy. However, can AI truly be trusted in writing? The University of Michigan conducted a study where researchers prompted generative AI to write stories in the styles of different authors. Participants who were everyday readers preferred the stories generated by the AI compared to the human writing. If this is a sign of progression, are we progressing in a good or bad way?

The study found that the AI’s work was better for the economy, as it only cost about $81 for researchers to train the AI while the average human writer is paid about $25,000. Ethical concerns, however, like copyright and consent laws, were difficult to work around. So, there are benefits and setbacks for the use of AI in writing. However, I feel as though the ethical concerns outweigh the economic impact heavily. I personally believe that the extent of AI usage should be saved for smaller things, like suggestions for revision and improvements, as well as, perhaps, collaboration. Aiden Cinnamon Tea is a fascinating example of this, as it is mimicing human writing while also developing its own unique identity as an AI writer.

So, is modernity truly failing us? If everyday readers continue to prefer the writing of AI, and if more AI work is produced, then probably. If we work with the AI, however, there is a better chance we may progress on a completely different path. While The 1975’s song is mainly focused on political activism and human rights, our progression as a society depends on a lot of things, which absolutely includes AI. AI itself has now become somewhat of a political topic in 2026. Arguments over ethical concerns and usage from different sides of the political spectrum have become relevant topics. The question is, how do we properly integrate it into our society? If we still cannot figure this out, there may soon come a day where it is too late to do so.

PS. I highly reccomend the song, “Love It If We Made It” by The 1975. It came out in 2018, but it is still so unfortunately relevant today.