Leading AI models have overtaken amateur writers in a new creative writing benchmark, while professional authors retain a substantial advantage. Vulsar AI’s Creative Writing Bench V1 compares 24 large language models with human writing across 475 prompts. Its evaluator uses a reward model trained on human preference data to predict which stories readers would favour. GPT 6 Astra leads the overall leaderboard with an 87.8% predicted win rate. The combined human reference follows at 86.6%, placing Astra ahead by 1.2 percentage points. Read More: Baitussalam Student Scores a Perfect 200 in Cambridge O Level Mathematics That result does not establish that AI has surpassed professional writers. The benchmark separates professional and amateur writing, revealing a much wider gap at the higher skill level. GPT 5.6 Sol records an overall score of 77.6%. Muse Spark 1.3 follows at 70.6%, narrowly ahead of Claude Fable 5.1 at 70.3%. The professional leaderboard tells a different story. Human professionals score 99.9%, followed by Grok 4.6 at 78.5% and Astra at 76.2%. In the amateur category, Astra scores 93.9%, Sol reaches 85.2%, and human writers record 79.7%. Vulsar uses different prompt sets for the professional and amateur categories. Their combined results form the overall ranking, making the category breakdown essential to interpreting the headline figures. Performance drops sharply beyond the leading models. Claude Opus 5, Kimi K3 and Grok 4.6 fall within the roughly 50% to 65% band overall. Further down, Qwen3.8-27B scores 23.2%, while DeepSeek V4.1 Flash reaches 19.8%. Gemma 4 26B records 10.9%. Read More: China Launches World’s First Floating Artificial Island for Deep-Sea Research The spread suggests that competitive creative writing remains concentrated among a relatively small group of advanced systems. Results from those leaders do not describe the capabilities of every available AI model. Human writers average 2,592 tokens per prompt, compared with Astra’s 1,537. Claude Fable 5.1 averages 2,114 tokens. Those figures show a clear difference in output length. They do not, by themselves, explain differences in narrative quality or establish that longer stories perform better. The supplied report also highlights concerns about smaller models repeating phrases and losing coherence during multi-chapter tasks. It describes human strengths in sustaining complicated narratives and changing direction while writing. However, Vulsar’s published task asks for one short story per prompt. Its results therefore cannot directly establish performance across novels or extended multi-chapter projects. The scores represent evaluator predictions, rather than direct reader votes on every benchmark response. An 87.8% overall score also does not mean Astra beats humans in 87.8% of direct comparisons. Read More: Here Is How Your Research Could Build a $100 Million Company Vulsar averages comparisons across eligible opponents and prompts. It excludes refusals and empty responses from scoring. The company also cautions that high scores do not verify originality against existing writing or training material. The findings support a narrower conclusion: leading models compete strongly with amateur writing under this evaluation, while professionals remain ahead.
Pakistan Proposes CSS Overhaul: Urdu Papers, New Cadres and Performance Pay
The federal government has finalised a proposed Rs11 billion civil service restructuring package, targeting recruitment, promotions, training and performance-linked rewards. The plan proposes 11 professional cadres and major changes to the Central Superior Services examination. It awaits approval before implementation. Planning Minister Ahsan Iqbal chaired Saturday’s consultation. Participants included Senator Saleem Mandviwalla, Federal Minister Aleem Khan, former PTI minister Asad Umar, policymakers and sector specialists. Read More: Just 355 Out of 12792 Clear CSS 2025 Written Test in Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s two reform committees have held 18 meetings since September 2024. They reached consensus on 43 of 46 recommendations. The package addresses concerns about declining bureaucratic standards and insufficient specialisation. Proposed groups include HR, Law, Engineering, Science and Technology, IT and Telecom, Energy, Climate, Agriculture and Forestry, Education and Health. Recruitment would match candidates’ specialisations, ending allocations to fields they have never studied. Placement would follow the principle of the “right person for the right job”. The government would transform the Establishment Division into a Human Resource and Organisation Development Division. Federal decision-making would shrink from five tiers to three. A proposed National Executive Service would open BS-20 and higher posts to competition. Serving officers, private-sector professionals and academics would compete equally for five-year contracts with published performance targets. The Police Service and Foreign Service would remain outside this arrangement. Drawing on Army practices, promotion boards would apply prescribed criteria collectively. Progression would become increasingly selective at senior levels. CSS papers in Urdu, new assessment model The CSS examination would continue. Candidates could attempt five compulsory papers in Urdu: Essay, Précis and Composition, Islamiat, Pakistan Studies and Current Affairs. Functional English proficiency would remain a screening requirement. Read More: Young Voices Shine as Annual Declamation Contest Ends at Quaid-e-Azam House Museum in Karachi The preliminary test’s passing threshold would rise from 33% to 40%. The package would introduce analytical reasoning and remove negative marking. A multi-day, competency-based assessment modelled on ISSB would replace the one-day viva voce. Recruitment assessments would examine psychometric attributes, emotional intelligence and leadership. Specialised training and multi-tier performance reviews would support the new system. Published assessment criteria and full digitisation would accompany a recruitment cycle lasting six months or less. Affirmative measures would address unfilled quota seats for Balochistan, Sindh, minorities and women. Each ministry would sign an annual performance agreement with the prime minister. Individual targets would flow from those commitments. Officials would undergo twice-yearly evaluations. The package would reserve 5% of employee-related expenditure for performance-based honoraria and pilot performance-linked pay in the federal secretariat. A proposed retirement package includes a Rs5 million lump sum financed through monthly deductions, alongside subsidised health insurance. Read More: Pakistan Tightens Digital Rules for Civil Servants After 62 Years The National Management Course would run for 10 weeks instead of 18. A National University of Public Administration would combine existing national and specialised training institutions. The package requires no constitutional amendment, according to the proposal. Following approval, an implementation committee would oversee execution and report monthly to the prime minister. The government would target full implementation within 120 days of approval.
PIA Passes IATA Safety Audit, Secures Registration Until 2028
Pakistan International Airlines has secured its 12th consecutive renewal of International Air Transport Association (IATA) Operational Safety Audit (IOSA) registration, the airline said. The renewed registration remains valid until September 11, 2028. A PIA spokesperson said the national flag carrier successfully completed the Risk-Based IOSA audit. The assessment examined its compliance with internationally recognised aviation safety and operational standards. Read More: PIA Adds Three More London Flights as Travel Demand Grows Auditors reviewed flight operations, cabin operations, ground handling and cargo services. These areas cover activities both in the air and on the ground, extending the assessment across several operational departments. The spokesperson said the renewal reflected PIA’s continued commitment to international safety standards and greater operational efficiency. The airline described the result as a significant milestone in its efforts to improve safety, security and operational performance. PIA also acknowledged its employees’ contribution, crediting the team’s collective work with helping secure the latest renewal. IOSA evaluates an airline’s operational management and control systems. IATA uses the programme to establish a common basis for assessing airlines across different markets. The association says it moved IOSA towards a risk-based model in 2024. This approach tailors the scope of each audit to the airline under review. Auditors consider the operator’s activities, safety events and previous IOSA audit history when deciding where to concentrate their assessment. Industry standards remain part of that process. Read More: Islamabad becomes transit link under PIA-Kam Air agreement The approach allows closer examination of higher-priority risks while retaining baseline requirements for compliance. It also assesses the maturity of relevant safety systems and programmes, helping airlines identify their next steps for improvement. IATA’s guidance illustrates how this works through runway excursions, where aircraft leave the runway during take-off or landing. When industry trends identify increased risks, auditors can examine the related standards in greater depth. Conversely, consistent compliance with lower-priority requirements can influence how frequently auditors revisit those areas. The model therefore considers both an airline’s record and the wider industry’s safety concerns. Maintaining IOSA registration also carries significance for airline membership of IATA. The association requires every member airline to hold and retain registration. The programme supports the sharing of audit reports, giving participating airlines a common framework for reviewing operational standards. IATA says this has eliminated more than 6,400 duplicate audits across the industry. Its published programme information lists more than 450 airlines on the IOSA registry. IATA also updates its standards to reflect regulatory changes and industry best practices. Read More: Pakistan Takes Big Step To Buy 16 New Boeing Jets for PIA Those features make renewal part of a continuing assessment process. The programme combines standardised checks with an increasing focus on each operator’s particular risks. For PIA, the latest announcement extends its reported sequence of successful renewals to 12. The spokesperson linked that achievement to sustained work across the airline’s operations and its commitment to continuous improvement.
