This week’s AJ highlights a culture navigating the emergence of a distinct “human premium”—a moment where, as synthetic content saturates our feeds, the authenticity of human experience and unmediated thought is being revalued.

The most compelling evidence is the “AI search paradox.” As machine-generated content floods the internet, actual human thinking is becoming more valuable; it turns out AI itself is beginning to prefer human thought to its own output, according to one study. A preference for the un-simulated is fueling a move past metaphors like “rewiring” the brain—which an essay in Aeon argues is a misleading oversimplification. But the explorations continue. Scientists are using wearable EEG caps to study the brains of musicians in natural settings, capturing the brain activity of performance that “canned” AI creativity cannot yet replicate.

The Mellon Foundation, now the nation’s richest humanities funder, is facing an analytical reckoning over whether its massive influence on the field is a savior of American letters or a force inadvertently centralizing control. This institutional re-examination has global parallels: the BBC prepares to cut a tenth of its operating costs over the next three years, forcing a reconsideration of its mission.

From 16th-century “Coffee Poets” fighting culture wars in verse to new studies confirming that simply reading aloud to children boosts empathy, the week’s stories suggest that art’s most vital power lies in its ability to resist the predictable and remain unpredictably human.

All our stories from the week are below.