Get ready. Something is coming that will forever change the way we perceive the world around us. I'm talking about the silent but brutal death of a concept we've taken for granted for the last 150 years: "Seeing is believing." It's the death of truth on the internet.
If you grew up in a world where the rule was that a picture is worth a thousand words and that photography the ultimate proof of truth, I have bad news for you. We are entering an era of digital paranoia, where the default our brain setting must have been skepticism. Why? Because our eyes, that evolutionary miracle that for millions of years helped us not step on snakes or eat poisonous mushrooms, have become useless. This is the death of truth on the internet.
Evolution did not prepare us for AI. When we saw something that looked like a lion in the bushes, it was usually a lion. Today? Today it's probably a deepfake lion generated in some kid's garage who wants to sell you crypto.
And here we come to the most fascinating irony of modern times: that "Clarksonian" moment when you simply have to laugh at the absurdity of the situation.
We've spent billions over the last ten years developing phones with 50 million sensorsWe bought wrinkle-smoothing apps, searched for the perfect light, and chased sunsets that looked like Windows wallpapers. We built an aesthetic of perfection. And what happens now?
Perfection became suspect. Imperfection is the only proof that you are not a robot.
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Good and quite convincing evidence is the music, where for the last six months it has not been noticeable that it was made with artificial intelligence and at times is even "convincing" for the first time!
Artificial intelligence today creates any you want aesthetics. But you know what she has a problem with? With being too perfect. Too smooth skin, too symmetrical faces, too filmic lighting. If you see a picture that looks like it's from a magazine, that's it today “red flag”A sign of deception.
The paradox is complete: to prove that you are human and that an event really happened in 2026, you have to be a bit of a scoundrel. A blurry image, a bad frame, red eyes, a stain on your shirt – these are the new certificates of authenticity.
When error becomes a tool of truth, you know the world has turned upside down.
So what awaits us? A technological solution, of course, because humans are clearly no longer able to separate the wheat from the chaff. The “cryptographic signature” of photos is coming. Camera manufacturers – Sony, Canon, Apple – will burn an indelible digital seal into every image. This will be like the VIN number on a car.
Imagine: you're looking at a photo online. You'll no longer ask yourself, "Is this beautiful?" You'll ask yourself, "Does this have a digital chassis?" If your photo doesn't have that digital blue checkmark that says "this was taken by the right sensor in the right location," it will wander into the basement of the internet, along with conspiracy theories and bad memes.
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Battle against is lost to false content. AI is advancing faster than we can write laws (which is not difficult at our speed of bureaucracy). Therefore, the strategy will reverse. We will no longer hunt for lies. We will verify the truth.
This brings us to the social phenomenon I am predicting. We return to tribal trust. If I can’t believe my eyes (because the picture lies), I have to believe the person. Identity is becoming the new currency. Influencers who have built their careers on filters and fake lifestyles are digitally dead. If we don’t know who you really are and if you can’t prove “chain of custody” of your content, you’re just noise in the system.
To put it natively: The fun of naive internet use is over.
This is an age of discomfort. We're going to be forced to question everything. It's going to be exhausting. No one wants to be scrolling through their phones with the mentality of a detective investigating a murder. We want to have fun. But if we draw the line, maybe that's even a good thing.
Perhaps a flood of outright lies will force us to began to appreciate the incomplete truth againWhen every car on your screen looks like a render from a video game, a blurry, poorly lit photo of an old Alfa Romeo posted by someone you know will become the most valuable thing on your screen.
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Video and music created with fairly uncomplicated prompts – in a few minutes. All you need is a photo.
My advice? Don't throw it away. old analog camerasAnd don't believe anything, which has no errorIn the world of artificial intelligence, your human weakness just became the greatest luxury.
Good luck in the new reality. You'll need luck - and a lot of cynicism. Because this is the death of truth on the internet.
