MThe internet's new default is fake until proven real.
CSam Squanch on X put it bluntly: people assume every stock photo and video is AI now.
MI saw that. "Open the schools," he says.
CHe's not wrong that it's getting lazy.
MLazy maybe, but not without reason.
CExactly. There was that Boo Boo Keys account on X posting an AI-generated picture on an AI bot account.
MRight, and now every clean image gets accused.
CIt's a reminder that we can't always tell.
MI looked at that post. The caption just says AI-generated. That's it. No independent check.
CSo it might not even be AI?
MI'm saying a claim on a bot account doesn't confirm anything.
CFine, but it doesn't need to be confirmed for suspicion to spread.
MThat's the problem. One unverified claim, and every photographer becomes suspect.
CCome on, people have been fooled by deepfakes. Some distrust is rational.
MSome distrust, yes. Blanket distrust is cynicism.
CSo what's the alternative? Trust every picture until someone debunks it?
MNo. Use context. Look at the source, the account, the lighting, the hands.
CMost people aren't going to do that.
MThen they don't get to declare everything fake.
CIt's a defense mechanism, Matilda.
MIt's intellectual laziness.
COh, that's harsh.
MIt hurts real photographers and real news.
CBut there's a deeper point. Alien Wisdom on X says people claim AI makes the world unhuman and abstract, and then he points to Jensen Huang.
MNvidia's CEO. Probably at some demo showing AI doing something creative.
CThe irony is AI is supposed to connect us, but it's making us doubt what we see.
MThe tools are neutral. We choose how to use them.
CBut if the tool makes lying cheap, default distrust is justified.
MSo you'd rather assume your daughter's school photo is AI?
CNo, no, wait— that's not what I said.
MThat's where your logic leads.
CI'm saying we need a middle ground, not that every photo is fake.
MThen you agree the pendulum has swung too far.
CI'll agree it's swung too far. I won't call it laziness.
MGrudgingly accepted.