Two visual streams dominate our digital lives. One reflects the tangible world—news, sports, politics, and actual events. The other, a synthetic flood of AI-generated junk, drowns us in low-effort, artificial visuals with little human input. Think exaggerated celebrity renderings, dreamy fantasy realms, and sexualised, unengaged portrayals of women meant to simulate intimacy.

This AI-generated sludge isn’t just mindless filler. It subtly distorts perception. Now, it’s weaponised. Right-wing fantasies fill YouTube, depicting imaginary Trump victories. Even the White House joined in, posting a Studio Ghibli-style image of a Dominican woman weeping during an ICE arrest. Meanwhile, Chinese videos mocking American workers over tariffs prompted real diplomatic responses. You wonder: is the reply AI too?

AI propaganda isn’t new in spirit, but its reach is. It’s limitless, unbound by real-world constraints. Platforms like WhatsApp amplify it—forwarded images seem trustworthy simply because they’re sent by someone close. One elderly relative swears by WhatsApp’s war videos from Sudan, unable to doubt their fabricated authenticity.

This isn’t accidental. AI tools lean on biased data, often whitewashing diversity and embedding retrograde ideals. Scholar Roland Meyer notes how fascist imagery idealises white, heteronormative families as utopian. AI doesn’t just create nostalgia—it sanitises authoritarian ideals.

And then there’s AI’s aesthetic overload. Cutesy apartments, snowy cabins, and pixel-perfect “trad wives” all feed the dopamine loop. Whether political or placid, it distracts and dulls urgency. When reality is blurred by the synthetic, even horror becomes ambient noise.

#AIDistortion #RealityCheckNow #InfoOverloadCrisis #SyntheticTruth