> It is not moving the goalposts to point out that we use different measures of ubiquity. Your measure is things you have heard from your friends, mine is the nearly inescapable pile of generated garbage that has swamped the internet.
Your comment that I was replying to was literally about the "ubiquitous understanding of what AI is" in context of a definition. I stated that, in my experience, the definition and understanding of what AI is not ubiquitous, and that even the relatively uninformed know that AI has a spectrum of use cases. Neither of us have data, but you've now moved to discussing the quantitative amount of AI content you have exposure to and not whether or not people believe AI is only useful for mass producing garbage. They're different measures and you're conflating them, all while bringing up other tangentially related points.
Which brings us to your next line:
> I do not understand your point about agents
This is in direct response to another quote of yours:
> The enormous wave of AI-generated drivel that caused publishers and contests to pause accepting new work stands as evidence otherwise.
My point is that the norms for the publishing industry were to not allow direct submissions from authors to begin with, long predating AI. Specifically because the vast majority of submitted works were garbage - most of what humans write is not worth publishing, either. Even in the subset of independent publishing houses that do generally accept open submissions, the vast majority never get more than a cursory glance, and a significant portion of what does get published comes through an agent. The idea that publishers, independent or otherwise not accepting open submissions for manuscripts is some significant change or even a problem just ignores the realities of the industry. Any human serious about getting published should have always been trying to work with an agent to begin with - the commission fees are a bargain for the work they do, even beyond just having the in with the publishers to even get something looked at. They get paid out of your royalty so it's in their best interest to help you not only sign a deal, but also help you negotiate the best deal you can. The good ones will also have all of the stats and metrics around sales in your target demographic, etc. so they bring data to the negotiating table.
(I would note, however, that I'd highly recommend anyone who is looking at a deal with a smaller publisher to also examine the pros and cons of self-publishing - indie publishers don't have the sort of budget and reach that the giants of the world do, and depending on your appetite and ability for taking on some of the tasks they would handle, it might be worth doing so to keep more of the money in your own pocket.)