What Machines Can't Replace

Anna McPhee is a fullstack developer with 20+ years of experience and a conference speaker on emerging agentic technologies. She writes about AI and creativity at anna.kiwi. What Machines Can't Replace (E. E. Press, August 2026) is her first book.

Anna McPhee has been building for the web since before Google existed. She's watched every wave of technology arrive, get overhyped, partially deliver, and reshape the world anyway.

With over 20 years as a fullstack developer, she spent a decade working nomadically before finally admitting that having a fixed address is occasionally useful. She now speaks at conferences on emerging agentic technologies and blogs prolifically about AI at anna.kiwi.

What Machines Can't Replace (E. E. Press, August 2026) is her first book — an attempt to say the quiet part loud before everyone else catches up.

Anna McPhee has been building for the web since before Google existed. She's watched every wave of technology arrive, get overhyped, partially deliver, and reshape the world anyway.

With over 20 years as a fullstack developer, she spent a decade working nomadically before finally admitting that having a fixed address is occasionally useful. She now speaks at conferences on emerging agentic technologies and blogs prolifically about AI, working at the sharp edge of what machines can actually do — and, more importantly, what they quietly can't.

Her first book, What Machines Can't Replace: Why AI Makes Us More Human (E. E. Press, August 2026), draws on neuroscience, craft traditions, and real workflows from developers, writers, and artists to argue that the more abundant machine-made content becomes, the more precious human creativity feels. It's her attempt to say the quiet part loud before everyone else catches up.

Find more of Anna's work at anna.kiwi.

The moment AI began generating art and stories, humans began valuing imperfection, effort, and slowness more than ever. We're handwriting letters. Choosing bread that took three days. Celebrating flaws. We're not resisting AI — we're discovering what machines can't touch.

The moment AI began generating art and stories, humans began valuing imperfection, effort, and slowness more than ever. We're handwriting letters. Choosing bread that took three days. Celebrating flaws. We're not resisting AI — we're discovering what machines can't touch.

What Machines Can't Replace reveals the paradox at the heart of our AI future: the more abundant machine-made content becomes, the more precious human creativity feels. For creators, developers, writers, and anyone navigating work in an AI-saturated world, this is a guide to what stays irreplaceable.

The moment AI began generating art and stories, humans began valuing imperfection, effort, and slowness more than ever.

We're handwriting letters. Choosing bread that took three days. Celebrating flaws. We're not resisting AI — we're discovering what machines can't touch.

What Machines Can't Replace reveals the paradox at the heart of our AI future: the more abundant machine-made content becomes, the more precious human creativity feels. Drawing on neuroscience, craft traditions, and real workflows from developers, writers, and artists, this book shows how AI becomes a mirror, reflecting what truly matters about being human.

You'll discover: Why effort creates meaning (and what neuroscience reveals about earned-ness). The "irreplaceability layer": taste, voice, soul, and story. Practical frameworks for using AI without losing yourself. Tiny experiments to rediscover slowness, texture, and embodied creativity. How AI helps us see what we value by showing us what we don't want.

For creators, developers, writers, and anyone navigating work in an AI-saturated world, this is your guide to what stays irreplaceable.