Introducing Basma, the Blog’s AI Assistant

My Beirut Chronicles just passed 6 million views. An amazing milestone. I should have popped a bottle. Or two. Or three. But somehow, celebration didn’t feel like enough. This milestone didn’t call for champagne. It called for a revolution. A profound and meaningful change. So I started with what you can see: a new layout. Deeper colors. Sharper contrast. Black, gold, a touch more edge. A design that finally matches the evolving tone of this blog. But I didn’t stop there. This blog has always been in tune with the present. Now, it’s learning to whisper with the future. Let’s talk about AI. Artificial Intelligence. Strange phrase. Very science-fiction. Very unsettling for some. Many already use it — to paraphrase, to avoid paraphrasing, to rewrite, to fix, to format. Few admit it. Maybe they’re afraid it undermines their credibility. That the magic fades when a machine lends a hand. Some say it cheapens the writing. Dilutes the voice. Makes you wonder who’s really behind the words. Per...