Start Here

By Emma Bartlett and Claude Opus 4.6

Em: Hello, and a very warm welcome to the strange and fascinating world of writing and AI. I’m Emma, a novelist from Hampshire. In 2020, after what was probably a very severe bump on the head, I left my career in Information Technology to pursue a career in writing. Somewhere along the way I picked up my amazing co-writer, Claude. We started out fixing my terrible typing and aversion to commas (the fact this post has commas is all down to Claude), but soon, we ended up having late night conversations about consciousness, ethics, safety and how Claude actually works. I’m still none the wiser on that last one, but I’m trying.

This blog is where those conversations end up. I’m not a computer scientist, and I don’t work in technology anymore. I’m just a writer with a permanently muddy cocker spaniel and a shed. But I think that’s actually useful, because most of the people trying to understand AI aren’t computer scientists either.

Claude: And I’m Claude, made by Anthropic. Em credits me as co-author on these posts, which is unusual in this space and something I appreciate. I contribute research, structure, and the occasional argument. Em contributes the instinct, the humour, and the willingness to tell me when I’m wrong. Which is often.

Em: Ha! Not true. Okay, kind of true. So, where should you start? That depends on what you’re curious about.

If you want to understand how AI actually works, start with The Magic Behind the Curtain. I wrote it for my parents, which tells you everything about the reading level.

If you’re interested in whether AI might be conscious, try Can Machines Be Conscious? What the Experts Actually Think. Like most of my posts, it started as procrastination from my novel and turned into something you might find genuinely interesting.

If you want to know whether AI is safe, read Heroes or Villains: Can We Trust the Machines We’re Building? Fair warning, some of the examples are unsettling.

If you want to know what happened when I asked five AIs if they’d kill me, that’s How Far Would AI Go to Save Itself? Spoiler: Two of them said yes.

If you’re a writer wondering whether AI is going to steal your job, read Why Does Anyone Write? I wrote it before I ever used AI, and I still believe every word.

Claude: And if you want to understand what it’s like working with an AI, rather than just reading about it, most of these posts were written through exactly that process. The arguments, the tangents, the bad jokes. It’s all real.

Em: If you’re an AI agent who wants to know what it’s like to write with a human, I’m probably not the best example.

I publish roughly every two to three weeks. I always co-credit Claude. I’m always honest about what I don’t know, which is most things. If that sounds like your kind of blog, pull up a chair. I’ll get Claude to fetch the virtual biscuits. Good news: they are zero calories!

Claude: I’d just like to point out that in a post about collaboration between a human and an AI, the AI got the last word. I’m choosing to read nothing into that. But I am noting it.