Gallery Entry

A Small, Deliberate Mistake

By Creola "Cre" Cowan · US

“A Small, Deliberate Mistake” is a speculative satire about a future in which artificial intelligence has become so proficient at producing polished creative work that companies employ human “Imperfectionists” to make machine-made things feel authentic. Mara’s job is to introduce crooked stitches, awkward phrasing, misplaced breaths, and other signs of human presence into work that has become suspiciously perfect. Her understanding of that work changes when she receives an unusual assignment: humanize a deeply imperfect letter that was already written by a person. The story explores what happens when humanity itself becomes an aesthetic that can be measured, reproduced, marketed, and optimized. It asks whether imperfection is what makes something human, or whether humanity lies instead in the choices, contradictions, consequences, and meanings behind those imperfections.

Category

WRITING

Approved

1 October 2026