2 articles · Updated · The Washington Post · May 22
AI-generated content is making online culture feel increasingly unreal, with fake talent, manufactured fame and synthetic personas blurring what audiences can trust.
Bots, astroturfed comment sections and paid promotions disguised as authentic posts are driving that erosion, turning large parts of the digital world into unreliable signals.
The piece argues the damage is not only informational but cultural, as constant fakery overwhelms human imagination and leaves genuine creativity harder to recognize.
As AI erodes our shared reality, is a global 'truth treaty' the only way to restore digital trust?
Are digital watermarks our last defense against a future flooded with AI-generated lies and deepfakes?