Amanda Smith is a freelance journalist and writer. She reports on culture, society, human interest and technology. Her stories hold a mirror to society, reflecting both its malaise and its beauty.

In her new book, Syme's Letter Writer, Rachel Syme of The New Yorker explains how to write a delightful letter to a loved one. Unlike texting and email, old-fashioned letters, hand-addressed and sent ...

The core of an A.I. program like ChatGPT is something called a large language model: an algorithm that mimics the form of written language. While the inner workings of these algorithms are notoriously ...