Reverse centaurs are the answer to the AI paradox

# Summary A writer tasked with producing an entire 64-page summer reading supplement—work that previously required dozens of journalists, editors, and fact-checkers—was forced to use AI to meet impossible deadlines, resulting in hallucinated book recommendations. The paradox of why AI improves some people's lives while devastating others is explained through automation theory: a "centaur" is a human assisted by machines, while a "reverse centaur" is a machine using a human as its vulnerable assistant, exemplified by this writer being puppeteered by his employer's unrealistic demands rather than being genuinely helped by the technology.