❓WHAT HAPPENED: Annual written output by artificial intelligence (AI) surpassed human output in 2025, according to ARK Invest data.
👤WHO WAS INVOLVED: Brett Winton, Chief Futurist at ARK Invest.
📍WHEN & WHERE: Data from 2025, shared in March 2026.
💬KEY QUOTE: “We have been surpassed: AI written output exceeded human written output in 2025” – Brett Winton
🎯IMPACT: AI is on track to surpass the entire written record of human civilization by the end of the decade.
According to data shared by ARK Invest, annual written output by artificial intelligence (AI) exceeded that of humans in 2025. This milestone indicates that AI could soon surpass the entire written record of human civilization by the end of this decade.
The data, presented in a chart, tracks written output from 1500 to 2030 on a logarithmic scale. While human output has steadily climbed over five centuries, AI output began to rise sharply around 2022, surpassing human annual output in 2025.
“We have been surpassed: AI written output exceeded human written output in 2025,” commented Ark’s Chief Futurist, Brett Winton, adding: “By the late 2020s, AI cumulative written output—every postcard, memo, whitepaper, and business-document—should be surpassed by AI. We left a written record; that record will be synthetically surpassed.”
The chart’s logarithmic scale emphasizes the rapid growth of AI output, which compresses centuries of human writing into a few years. This includes all forms of written communication, from postcards to legal briefs.
AI’s ability to generate text at unprecedented speeds, combined with its widespread use across various platforms, contributes to this massive output. The future projection suggests that AI will continue to accelerate its output, potentially surpassing all human-written records from the past 500 years.
The dominance of AI-generated content raises questions about its impact on education, culture, science, and writing as a profession.
We have been surpassed:
AI written output exceeded human written output in 2025 pic.twitter.com/Dv4CNJDMVf— Brett Winton (@wintonARK) March 26, 2026
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