– 14 December 2025

In the article “What Happens After AI Destroys College Writing” by Hua Hsu and “The Gen Z Lifestyle Subsidy” by Lila Shroff, both authors write about AI, however it’s targeted to different audiences. Hua Hsu’s target audience is the educational institution – college professors, students, and administrators. This is evident as he references his grading challenges and conversations with students about their writing habits. Due to that, his tone in his article is more serious and reflective to encourage the audience to consider the impact AI has on learning. While for Lila Shroff, her targeted audience are AI users and Gen Z, which is shown by her focus on the latest trends and popular apps. With her audience kept in mind, she has a more easygoing tone that won’t scare off the readers.

For both articles, the context shapes the author’s approaches. For Hua Hsu, he is responding to why students use AI so much. For example, Hua was interviewing a student from NYU and was asking about his AI usage. The student just told him how it makes doing the assignments easier for him. Another student, May, said that she uses it because she is able to catch up on some rest. And for Hua himself, he realized that AI has reached his classroom making it harder for him to grade his students’ work. All of the interviews he did made him rethink the use of AI for students. 

On the other hand, Lila Shroff is responding to the repeat of the Millennial lifestyle subsidy. She is seeing the usage of AI in a perspective of over consumption ruining the economy. The article states, “It’s reminiscent of the 2010s, when a generation of start-ups fought to win users over by offering cheap access to their services.” Lila is worried about this cycle because it can have the same impact as the past. Both texts contribute differently to the broader conversation around AI. Lila Schroff is focused on economic impact while Hua Hsu is focused on educational impact.

The purpose of “The Gen Z Lifestyle Subsidy” is to inform readers how dangerous being hooked onto AI can be. The article states, “If AI companies can hook young people to their tools today, they may be able to rely on these users to pay up in the future.” Essentially, Lila is trying to spread awareness that if they are constantly using AI for everything, in the long run they’ll be the ones to pay the price for having such dependency. However, the purpose of “What Happens After AI Destroys College Writing” is to give insight on how students use AI and why they rely so heavily on it. It’s also to emphasize the importance of the learning process that students forget. The article makes two key points. One, students aren’t lazy, but try to find efficient ways to use AI while dealing with their personal life. And two, that writing is now hard especially when you’re a college student wanting to avoid hard work. Hua Hsu is aiming to give a neutral objective on the usage of AI, while at the same wanting the readers to rethink how much they use AI in their daily lives.

As a result, both articles demonstrate talk about AI but in different contexts. It shows that the stigma surrounding AI changes depending on who the intended audience is. Hua Hsu gives a thoughtful and serious message that encourages students and educators to rethink what the process of writing truly is in an AI-driven society. Lila Schroff uses a playful tone to reach Gen Z and alert them about the economic harm with the overconsumption of AI tools. Both authors’ messages are shaped by the audience they want to have an influence on.

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