We were already producing text, audio, and video at sufficient rates. So-called AI only makes it easier to produce deceptively realistic media. Video that looks and sounds like real life, but isn’t. Or as in the article, citations for academic papers that look real, but aren’t.

If fabrics made by machines were of consistently lower quality, if every machine-made shirt busted at the seams, we wouldn’t use machines to make fabric. (Fabric isn’t even a great example. There’s lots of human labor in garment factories.)