Thoughts about AI generated content and it’s future irrelevance

The Future of AI-Generated Content: Trust and the Erosion of Authentic Communication

As artificial intelligence continues to evolve at an unprecedented pace, a critical question emerges: what happens to the trustworthiness of digital content when most of it is AI-generated? The proliferation of automated content raises concerns about its credibility and the potential implications for various domains, from job listings to personal communication.

One pressing issue is what I refer to as the “believability collapse”—a scenario where the authenticity of online information becomes virtually impossible to verify. Take, for instance, the realm of job postings and resumes. Before the rise of AI, evaluating a candidate’s communication skills and thought process often involved analyzing their written materials. A well-crafted resume could speak volumes about the applicant, while a poorly written one could be equally revealing. However, with AI capable of producing impeccably polished resumes tailored to specific roles, this traditional signal of authenticity diminishes. In this new landscape, resumes risk becoming just another generic business card—decorative but lacking substantive insight.

This shift extends beyond employment documents. Everyday digital interactions—emails, text messages, voice messages—are increasingly mediated by AI. Distinguishing between human and machine-generated communication becomes a formidable challenge. Future solutions might include digital tags indicating whether content was authored by a person or AI, or advanced biometric authentication to verify identities in real-time exchanges. Without such measures, there’s an inevitable default assumption: everything might be AI-crafted, eroding the trust we place in digital communications.

The consequence of this trust erosion could be profound. If we can no longer reliably discern genuine from artificial, the value of digital interactions diminishes. We might find ourselves reverting to face-to-face conversations, valuing in-person authenticity over mediated exchanges. But if that happens, why invest heavily in AI tools in the first place? That irony underscores a paradox: the very technology designed to enhance our communication risks rendering it less meaningful if trust cannot be maintained.

In summary, the rapid flow of AI-generated content threatens to undermine the foundation of our digital information ecosystem. The potential for a “trust collapse” may accelerate the adoption of more archaic, face-to-face interactions. This scenario introduces a dark possibility—what some perhaps call the “Dark Forest” model—where the proliferation of unverified AI content could lead to a societal retreat from digital trust, possibly surpassing our worst expectations.

As we navigate this evolving landscape, it’s vital to consider ways to preserve authenticity and establish mechanisms for verifying content provenance