This episode looks at how quickly AI moved from playful experimentation to something far more unsettling. What began as clumsy, multi-step tools for harmless self-inserts has become a one-prompt machine for convincing fakes, collapsing the distance between truth and fabrication, and quietly reshaping how we trust what we see online.

I also argue we’re nearing a backlash. As the digital well fills with half-truths, people are getting tired—and more discerning. Next year, I predict a renewed demand for authenticity: verifiable authorship, real expertise, and meaningful consequences when AI is used to deceive.