“It’s so cheap to produce the written word.” This was one of Max Spero’s comments in an interview with Derek Thompson. Spero’s company created a tool, Pangram, that many people use to try to detect when text has been created or substantially edited by AI.
There’s a good reason “cheap” means more than “inexpensive.” Perhaps the other meaning, something like “without value, but nevertheless a negative thing,” is the primary one now. Perhaps the effort it takes to produce (or select, or corral) the written word is worth even more than many acknowledge.