Salman Rushdie Warns AI Threatens Writers Only When It Crafts Humor

At the 2025 Hay Festival, Salman Rushdie stated that authors need not fear AI replacing them until it can write genuinely funny books, emphasizing AI's lack of a sense of humor as its biggest limitation. He revealed he has never used AI and prefers to pretend it doesn't exist. This event marked his most high-profile UK appearance since he was stabbed on stage in the US in 2022, an attack that left him blind in one eye. Rushdie expressed relief that his attacker was convicted and sentenced to 25 years, finding closure through writing about the incident in his book 'Knife: Meditations After An Attempted Murder.' He also shared excitement about releasing new fiction later this year and expressed frustration that interviews focused primarily on the attack rather than his work. Additionally, Rushdie remarked on the importance of stories and fables in a world struggling with truth, and commented on the current political climate referencing Donald Trump.