Peter Biles

Peter Biles is a novelist, short story writer, poet, and essayist. He is the author of three books, most recently the novel Through the Eye of Old Man Kyle. His essays, stories, blogs, and op-eds have been published in places like The American Spectator, Plough, and RealClearBooks & Culture, among many others.

Archives

Does Mental Health Awareness Actually Help People?

_{A new study and a forthcoming book argue that hyperawareness of mental health and illness can harm more than help}_{Peter Biles
May 7, 2026}

Matthew Loftus has a new book coming out on this topic later in 2026 called Resisting Therapy Culture: The Dangers of Pop Psychology and How the Church Can Respond.

AI is Forcing the Return of Writing by Hand in the Classroom

_{Sometimes, the old ways are still the best ways}_{Peter Biles
April 30, 2026}

Skipping the process of working through problems and arguments will end up ensuring students learn less, not more.

College Closures Are Getting More Common

_{What’s the state of higher education halfway through the 2020s?}_{Peter Biles
April 15, 2026}

If the demographic problem fails to get any better in the coming years, then it seems clear that higher education will continue to see these kinds of financial challenges.

Longform Nonfiction in Decline?

_{We still need to read long books about complicated topics}_{Peter Biles
April 8, 2026}

Perhaps it isn’t coincidental that this kind of longform writing is having trouble at the same time that the online news cycle gets ever more ephemeral.

Meta Retreats from the Metaverse

_{While Meta is scaling back on the metaverse, it is reportedly switching focus to artificial intelligence.}_{Peter Biles
March 20, 2026}

The ambitious project never paid its expected dividends. Consumers simply weren’t as interested in these VR headsets as Zuckerberg thought they would be.

What is Meta Up To? Big Tech Turns to AI Investment

_{The social media giant bought a social media site made up of bots.}_{Peter Biles
March 11, 2026}

Maybe AI will force us to reckon with the reality of the soul, which I also wager that no computer system can generate.

Good News: Young People Are Skeptical of AI — Even if Their Parents Aren’t

_{Peter Biles
February 27, 2026}

ChatGPT. Every student uses it to write papers. So goes the pervading fear, that is.

Are Young People Getting Tired of AI?

_{A new article suggests teens are not universally excited about the blossoming technology}_{Peter Biles
February 20, 2026}

Julie Jargon wrote an interesting piece for The Wall Street Journal about teen attitudes towards AI and found that their view of it isn’t so optimistic as many might assume.

Washington Post Fires Hundreds of Journalists

_{The Post has struggled in recent years and even saw a major dip in subscriptions back in 2024}_{Peter Biles
February 4, 2026}

Owner Jeff Bezos has not yet succeeded in making the company financially viable in a time when so much media and journalism is now being independently created.

The Decline of K-12 Literacy and What Might Help

_{An emphasis on storytelling might at least partially serve as a solution in K-12.}_{Peter Biles
January 26, 2026}

High school students struggle in places afflicted with poverty, family breakdown, and other social woes. However, it doesn't necessarily follow that students from wealthier regions are demonstrating academic excellence.

Grok’s Deepfake Capacities Modified Following Pushback

_{Deepfakes and AI-generated content are only becoming more prevalent on sites like X.}_{Peter Biles
January 14, 2026}

Grok, X’s AI program, came under fire when its users began creating explicit images and videos of real people. AI-generated deepfakes began to abound until finally, X took action to modify the AI bot’s capabilities. According to X’s Safety account: We have implemented technological measures to prevent the Grok account from allowing the editing of images of real people in revealing clothing such as bikinis. This restriction applies to all users, including paid subscribers. Additionally, image creation and the ability to edit images via the Grok account on the X platform are now only available to paid subscribers. This adds an extra layer of protection by helping to ensure that individuals who attempt to abuse the Grok account to violate the law or our policies can …

In 2026, Real Artistry Will Help Brands and Businesses

_{2025 was AI's big year. Will 2026 follow suit, or will the scales start to balance?}_{Peter Biles
January 2, 2026}

Enter Porsche, the car company, and it's advertisement, contrasting with Coca-Cola, shows the time-tested beauties of hand-drawn and CGI animation.

AI Data Centers Are Using Water, and Lots of It

_{Will studies like this spark a new kind of pushback in the coming year?}_{Peter Biles
December 23, 2025}

The study has arrived on the heels of Time Magazine’s decision to elect a number of AI company CEOs as its annual “Person of the Year.”

AI Developers Named Time’s “Person of the Year”

_{The decision drew a lot of criticism.}_{Peter Biles
December 12, 2025}

On the cover of the magazine issue, tech giants including Sam Altman, Elon Musk, and Mark Zuckerberg are pictured sitting on a construction beam.

New ChatGPT Ads Assume People Can’t Think for Themselves

_{ChatGPT wants to do it all for you.}_{Peter Biles
December 9, 2025}

This sort of thinking assumes that modern people are no longer intelligent enough to do the things that former generations easily managed.

How to Ruin a Generation: Give Everyone Smartphones

_{What is all of this digital content doing to the souls of kids? To everyone?}_{Peter Biles
December 4, 2025}

For those familiar with the novel Brave New World, this distracted, dopamine-addled brand of a society was all but predicted almost a century ago.

New Allegations Claim Meta Dismissed Risks to Children

_{New complaints, same story: Meta cares more about business growth than protecting kids}_{Peter Biles
November 25, 2025}

This new litany of complaints feels like it will be a lot tougher for the tech behemoth to successfully battle.

What Qualifies as a Book Ban?

_{If a novel has sold millions of copies and can be easily bought in almost any bookstore, how is it "banned"?}_{Peter Biles
November 12, 2025}

Many people on social media pushed back against the claim that Atwood’s famous, bestselling book has in any way been “banned.”

Tech Addiction is Reaching a Frightening New Level

_{Young people are spending endless time online seeking drug-like states of mind}_{Peter Biles
November 5, 2025}

Kolitz wraps up his article by stressing how this new type of addiction isn’t so far removed from the more culturally accepted forms of mindless scrolling.

On the State of Men and Reading

_{Valuable advice to students: Learn how to read deeply}_{Peter Biles
October 30, 2025}

Reading great books might not immediately come to mind, but according to professor Shilo Brooks, it just might be a part of the answer.