“Meat proxy”: criticism of roles that blindly relay AI output

Niklas Gruhn coined the term "meat proxy" to describe people who literally copy and forward the outputs of artificial intelligence systems. Gruhn says prompting itself is useful and recommended, but one should not function merely as an intermediary. His recommendation is to read, understand and validate AI-generated text, then rephrase the response in one’s own words. By doing that work in the process, we add real value to communication and assume responsibility for the information. The danger of the phenomenon is that faulty, inaccurate or misleading AI outputs spread as authoritative sources, which can harm reputation, mislead others or raise legal liability in some situations. Gruhn’s formulation can serve as a warning to both corporate and individual users. The practical advice is to include source verification and one’s own professional assessment in the workflow. The message reinforces the importance of human expertise in the generative AI era and prompts reflection on the ethical and responsible use of the technology.