The Case Against Writing with AI — Ezra Klein

Here are the top 10 key takeaways from Ezra Klein's conversation with David Perell about journalism, writing, and why AI can't replace deep reporting work.

1. Pick up the damn phone

Klein's first journalism mentor taught him that real journalism requires integrating voices beyond your own perspective. Early in his career, Klein was essentially a blogger who "spewed opinions onto the internet." His editor Michael Tomasky rejected his first feature piece, saying it wasn't journalism because it was "only you." This lesson fundamentally changed how Klein approaches writing.

Even as an opinion columnist today, Klein fills his work with quotes and external voices. He finds this approach far more interesting than simply sharing his own thoughts. The panorama of different perspectives makes the work richer and more valuable to readers.

2. Voice carries weight and responsibility

Klein's writing voice evolved significantly as his platform grew larger. In the early 2010s, he transitioned from letting his opinions "rip" to adopting a more professional approach. This change wasn't about losing authenticity but recognizing the impact of his words.

A pivotal moment came when Jon Chait told him "you don't realize you've gotten big" and that his punches would "really land." Klein took this feedback seriously and stopped doing harsh takedowns that might constitute punching down. As he moved to larger institutions like the Washington Post and New York Times, he began writing with more institutional weight behind him.

This responsibility extends beyond just Klein himself. More people are "on the hook" for what he writes at these major publications. He treats his voice more carefully because it affects not just him but the institutions he represents.

3. Reading is the wellspring of all other work

Klein considers reading the foundation of everything else he does professionally. If forced to choose between reading and reporting, he would choose reading. This isn't just about consuming information but about achieving a specific mental state that's crucial for his work.

When Klein reads books, papers, or articles in an undistracted way for long periods, his mind enters what he describes as a "meditational" and "associational" mode. He's not just absorbing content but making connections, highlighting passages, and thinking deeply. This process generates the ideas and insights that fuel his writing and podcasting.

Conversation doesn't provide the same benefit because it doesn't allow for the sustained contemplation that reading enables. Klein can't pause mid-conversation to sit and think deeply about an idea the way he can when reading alone with a book and pen.

4. AI threatens the most important part of the work

Klein views AI as fundamentally problematic for serious journalism and writing because it automates the wrong parts of the process. AI excels at tasks he doesn't need help with while potentially undermining the work that matters most. His core concern is that AI encourages shortcuts in the research and thinking process.

The danger isn't just that AI might produce inferior summaries or miss important connections. It's that using AI to summarize books or papers prevents Klein from spending the necessary time grappling with the material. This engagement time is when his mind makes the connections that become the foundation of his best work.

Klein worries that AI creates a false sense of having done the work when you actually haven't. He believes it's more dangerous to think you've read something than to acknowledge you haven't read it at all. This is why he remains skeptical of AI as a creative partner despite having access to advanced models.

5. Knowledge requires embodied engagement

Klein rejects what he calls the "Matrix theory of the mind:" the idea that knowledge is simply information downloaded into your brain. Instead, he sees knowledge as something that changes you through the process of engagement. Reading a book isn't just about extracting facts but about spending seven hours with your mind focused on those ideas.

This embodied approach explains why Klein values the time spent with material over efficiency. When he reads a Rand report on housing construction costs, marking it up and studying it for over an hour, he's not just gathering data. He's integrating the information into how his mind actually works.

The length of engagement matters too. Klein notes that his decades-long relationship with Matthew Yglesias's writing has been more valuable than any single piece. Similarly, podcasting works because listeners spend two hours with him repeatedly - "it's not the wave, it's the erosion" that creates change.

6. Writing is the endpoint, not the core

Klein fundamentally views writing as the final step in a much larger process rather than the heart of his work. He describes writing as "selling the product" after you've researched, created, and manufactured it. Without the foundation of research and reporting, his writing would just be "rhetorically elegant recitation" of existing beliefs.

This perspective explains why Klein spends so much time on preparation before writing or podcasting. For his show, he estimates that 80% of the conversation happens before entering the room through guest selection and preparation. The actual writing or conversation is executing something that's already been thoroughly developed.

Klein often tells young people that they can beat their elders simply by "outworking them" - by reading the Congressional Budget Office reports that others only skim or ignore entirely. The competitive advantage comes from doing the research work that others find boring or skip altogether.

7. Institutional media bundles still matter

Klein pushes back against the narrative that he was trying to destroy traditional media institutions. He describes himself as an "institutionalist" who values large news organizations. When he left the Washington Post to co-found Vox, he wasn't going independent but trying to build a new institution that would add value to journalism.

The bundle model that newspapers historically relied on - where classified ads subsidized foreign bureaus and sports sections cross-subsidized investigative reporting - created crucial support for expensive, important journalism. Platforms like Substack only work for certain types of high-frequency opinion writing, not the expensive investigative work that serves the public interest.

Klein sees the New York Times as successfully rebuilding a digital bundle through games, cooking apps, and Wirecutter alongside their journalism. This allows high-audience, low-investment writers to cross-subsidize the expensive investigative and war reporting that might have smaller audiences but huge public value.

8. Editorial taste is subtle and hard to teach

Klein identifies taste as the most crucial and difficult-to-measure quality in both writers and editors. Technical skills like grammar and sentence clarity can be learned, but having an intuitive sense for what is good versus what isn't remains elusive. This quality separates truly effective editors from those who can only provide technical feedback.

The relationship between Klein and his current editor Aaron Retica is built on trust in each other's judgment. Klein needs to believe that his editor knows what is good before sending work into the world with significant attention on it. This goes beyond technical editing to fundamental questions about whether a piece is worth publishing.

Klein notes that editorial taste varies from person to person and doesn't need to be uniform. However, when two editors give conflicting advice, the one with better taste will be right about what makes a piece work or fail.

9. Uncertainty is difficult to write well

Klein identifies writing uncertainty as one of his biggest challenges as a writer. The structure of opinion columns naturally pushes toward definitive takes, making it difficult to authentically express doubt or unresolved questions. Few writers can compellingly say "I am not sure of the answer to this" without falsely resolving the uncertainty.

The pressure toward certainty comes partly from the medium itself. Podcasting allows Klein to hold multiple ideas in tension and end conversations with unresolved questions, which he considers a good intellectual place to be. Writing, however, creates pressure to "chisel down to one best argument."

This process of argumentation often over-persuades the writer themselves. Klein notices that he sometimes talks himself into more certainty than he should have, leaving insufficient room for doubt or alternative perspectives. The person writers convince most is usually themselves, not their audience.

10. Time constraints shape creative capacity

Klein's biggest limitation isn't lack of ideas or skill but insufficient time and energy to explore his full creative potential. He would welcome more capacity to experiment and play with his writing style, but the demands of his current role prevent this exploration. His high output schedule means treating individual pieces less preciously.

Book writing offers more opportunity for craft development, but Klein only received two months of book leave for "Abundance" due to breaking news events. He believes he needs six to eight months to truly develop a book properly, but doesn't see how to create that space in his current career stage.

This time pressure affects Klein's editorial decision-making as well. At the New York Times, he can focus on doing what he's best at rather than trying to cover everything the institution needs. This selectivity has improved his hit rate compared to his Vox days when he felt obligated to be wherever the organization needed him most.