![The Last Proofreader [Sci-Fi]](https://media2.dev.to/dynamic/image/width=1200,height=627,fit=cover,gravity=auto,format=auto/https%3A%2F%2Fdev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fuploads%2Farticles%2Fxkp6b9e6h8v4mf9mft90.png)
Lin Xiao received the assignment at two in the morning.
The task: review a 48-page contract for ambiguous clauses. A law firm on one side, an AI company on the other.
On page three, she stopped.
'Party B guarantees all deliverables are authored by humans, except where Party B's internal processes involve AI tools.'
She wrote a question mark in the margin.
By 2031, there were roughly 17,000 proofreaders like Lin Xiao left. Five years ago, there had been 230,000.
Most had become 'validators' - not writing content, just confirming AI-written content had no problems. Then that role started disappearing too, because there were AI validators.
Lin Xiao stayed because she believed some things AI still couldn't do: understanding what a human meant when they wrote certain sentences, and what they were trying to hide.
Page seventeen:
'AI-generated content provided by Party B, upon review by Party A's designated personnel, shall be considered equivalent to human-authored work.'
She set down her coffee.
'Designated personnel' - undefined. 'Review' - no minimum standard specified.
She opened her notes: 'Page 17: recommend defining designated personnel and minimum review standards. As written, this clause could bypass AI content disclosure requirements.'
Then she paused.
What she'd just done - identifying the problem, articulating the risk - was exactly what this contract was designed to let AI replace her for.
Where was the difference?
The difference was the three seconds she spent feeling uneasy.
An AI wouldn't stop here feeling uneasy. It would log the issue, continue scanning, file a 99.4%-accurate report by 2:37 AM.
Lin Xiao finished her note and kept reading.
At 3:14 AM, she submitted her review: seven clauses flagged, twenty-one annotations.
Three days later, the law firm replied: the clause had been revised to require 'review line-by-line by a qualified human attorney.'
Lin Xiao didn't know if her note had changed anything. But she remembered the three seconds.
Human attorney. Line by line.
Maybe not the last yet.
More sci-fi at wdsega.github.io
