\n
<\/p>\n
An author and freelance journalist has admitted to using AI to help him write a book review for The New York Times<\/em>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Alex Preston\u2019s review<\/a> of Jean-Baptiste Andrea\u2019s novel Watching Over Her<\/em><\/a>, published by The New York Times<\/em> in January 2026, draws phrases and full paragraphs from Christobel Kent\u2019s review in The Guardian<\/em><\/a>. The \u201cerror\u201d was brought to light by a reader, who alerted The New York Times<\/em> to the similarities.<\/p>\n Preston told The Guardian<\/em><\/a> he is \u201chugely embarassed\u201d and \u201cmade a huge mistake.\u201d<\/p>\n The Times<\/em> promptly dropped Preston, calling his \u201creliance on A.I. and his use of unattributed work by another writer\u201d a \u201cclear violation of the Times\u2019s standards.\u201d An editor\u2019s note now precedes the review<\/a> online, advising readers of the issue and providing a link to the Guardian<\/em> review.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Preston\u2019s apology<\/a> to The Guardian<\/em> raises more questions than it resolves. The portion quoted online seems to speak more to the issue of unattributed work than his use of AI. It reads: \u201cI made a serious mistake in using an AI tool on a draft review I had written, and I failed to identify and remove overlapping language from another review that the AI dropped in.\u201d This implies that if he had removed the \u201coverlapping\u201d language, the issue would have been avoided.<\/p>\n As a literary critic and scholar, I believe the deeper question isn\u2019t whether or not critics should do more to hide their use of AI\u2014but the ethics of using it at all.<\/p>\n The role of the critic isn\u2019t to summarize or repackage art, but to actively participate in a conversation about it. \u201cGood criticism thrives in the complexity of its environment,\u201d writes critic Jane Howard<\/a>, who is also The Conversation<\/em>\u2019s Arts + Culture editor. \u201cEach review sits in conversation with every other review of a piece of art, with every other review the critic has written.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\nWhy AI can\u2019t do criticism<\/h2>\n