HUMAN IS
THE NEW
VINYL
Why human creativity still wins
in the AI revolution
AI isn't evil. AI is easy. And easy has a way of winning—even when it shouldn't.
One year of
HUMAN IS THE NEW VINYL
Human Is the New Vinyl is one year old.
I wrote it to understand what we should value as machines produce more and more of what we read, watch, hear, and buy—and what we lose when the people behind meaningful work get kicked to the curb.
A year later, this question has become more urgent than ever.
If you’ve been meaning to read or listen, this is a good time to begin.


Have you read
HUMAN IS THE NEW VINYL?
Would you do me a huge favor and leave a review?
Even a few sentences will do.
It would mean the world to me—and it helps other readers decide whether the book is for them.
Companion
Digital made music perfect and free. It nearly killed vinyl. Then vinyl came back. Not because it sounded perfect. It didn't.
The scratch of the record. The warmth of analog. Nostalgia. The ritual of lowering the needle. Vinyl asks something of the listener that streaming does not: presence.
Human creativity is following the same pattern.
AI can produce the polished essay, photorealistic portrait, or orchestral score in seconds. Perfection is now ordinary—and ordinary perfection has very little credibility.
What becomes valuable is what a machine can’t claim: a life behind the work. Experience. Judgment. Rough edges. Choices that make sense because a particular person made them.
Human isn't better than AI. Human is different.
And that difference matters—for what you make, what you buy, and what you’re willing to put your name on.

Reviewed in IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication — June 2026
"Micah's human storytelling is powerful — tangible and authentic."
Craig Martin
Emmy-nominated producer of The Good Road
President, Belltower Pictures & Shockoe Records
"Terrific! A clear, down-to-earth guide to understanding AI's impact on the world."
Paul Conn
Chancellor of Lee University
Bestselling author · Harvard visiting scholar
AVAILABLE NOW
Read it your way.
Paperback, hardcover, Kindle, and Audible—read by the author.
BEHIND THE BOOK
The book makes the argument.
VerifiedHuman™ puts it into practice—helping people identify and support work made by humans.
→ Visit VerifiedHuman