chatgpt writing and the like is very surface level. It typically has correct grammar but there's only as much thought put in as there is by a relatively new writer. You can definitely find middle schoolers writing at the level it outputs, and probably quite a few middle schoolers already past it.

It just doesn't seem to be able to understand how to combine ideas or rely on ideas from prior paragraphs/sections to forward a thesis. I also think most of the automated outputs I've seen have poor word choice and not much attention to the actual flow, language, etc. even when it's trained on language from writers who excel at that.

I wonder if even the pulpiest of books, for undiscerning audiences, could be suitably replicated by ai writing. Like I think even people with low standards for books currently have much higher standards than what it puts out. Maybe in a decade or something those writers may feel some pressure but I kind of doubt it