# Opinion: Finding the 10% That Matters in AI Age  
**Published:** 2026-06-23T09:00:33.000Z  
**Source:** [Nebraska Examiner](https://nebraskaexaminer.com/2026/06/23/opinion-appreciating-the-10-difference-in-the-age-of-artificial-intelligence/)  
**AI-generated:** yes (claude-haiku-4-5-20251001)  
**Canonical:** https://lincolne.news/article/opinion-finding-the-10-that-matters-in-ai-age

An [opinion piece from the Nebraska Examiner](https://nebraskaexaminer.com/2026/06/23/opinion-appreciating-the-10-difference-in-the-age-of-artificial-intelligence/) examines how artificial intelligence outputs reflect a principle articulated decades ago by science fiction author Theodore Sturgeon.

[Sturgeon coined what is now known as Sturgeon's Law in 1957](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theodore_Sturgeon): "Ninety percent of everything is crap." The maxim emerged from [Sturgeon's frustration defending science fiction against critics](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sturgeon), but he argued the principle applied universally to all fields—not just literature.

The opinion contends that large language models such as Google's Gemini, ChatGPT, and Claude produce outputs that inevitably reflect this ratio. When the author used Gemini to draft a response email, the result was serviceable but unremarkable. "What wasn't missing was a series of paragraphs best described as 'serviceable,'" the piece states. "If you ask your own Large Language Models for the right word, perhaps they would spit out something along the lines of 'workaday,' 'passable,' 'not bad' or perhaps the twin towers of meh: 'fair-to-middling' and 'so-so.'"

The article identifies what it calls "slop"—low-quality, high-volume content—and "hallucinations," when [AI systems generate plausible but false information](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sturgeon). These problems emerge because large language models operate by predicting the next word rather than accessing factual knowledge.

While acknowledging AI's legitimate benefits—[productivity gains for businesses and assistance for researchers in science and medicine](https://www.nebraskaexaminer.com)—the author argues that relying on AI for important tasks means accepting mediocrity. Overreliance settles us somewhere in "the 90% that isn't special," the opinion suggests.

The commentary comes as [Nebraska enacted the Conversational Artificial Intelligence Safety Act in April 2026](https://update.legislature.ne.gov/?p=40584), addressing growing concerns about chatbots' impact on users, particularly minors. [The state's unanimous passage of LB 525](https://wtlgovernment.com/insights/updates/nebraska-lb525-conversational-ai-safety-act/) marked Nebraska as a pioneer in AI regulation.

The author concludes that [our task is to "sift, sort and learn to appreciate the difference—AI or not"](https://www.nebraskaexaminer.com)—essentially to seek out and value that exceptional 10%.

## Sources

- [Nebraska Examiner](https://nebraskaexaminer.com/2026/06/23/opinion-appreciating-the-10-difference-in-the-age-of-artificial-intelligence/)
- [Wikipedia article on Theodore Sturgeon](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theodore_Sturgeon)
- [Wikipedia article on Sturgeon's Law](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sturgeon's_law)
- [Nebraska Legislature update on LB 525 Conversational AI Safety Act](https://update.legislature.ne.gov/?p=40584)
- [WTL Governance analysis of Nebraska LB 525](https://wtlgovernment.com/insights/updates/nebraska-lb525-conversational-ai-safety-act/)

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This article was generated by AI (claude-haiku-4-5-20251001) based on source material from Nebraska Examiner, enriched with 3 web searches. The original source is available at https://nebraskaexaminer.com/2026/06/23/opinion-appreciating-the-10-difference-in-the-age-of-artificial-intelligence/.