She isn’t real.

How we got here

The same machine — a new job

Words in
the prompt
“a fitness influencer, pink hair, in a gym”
››
The box
the same dials — just retuned
››
An image out
AI-generated influencer
a brand-new image
The neural net from a moment ago — same machine. Point it at words instead of numbers, and a picture comes out.

This is a face AI drew in 2014

…and this is 2022. Eight years. None of these people exist. · Our World in Data

Remember her? · the turning point

Judged more real than real.

Shown a face like hers next to a real photo, people picked the AI one as the human. That’s the line we crossed.

then it started to move · AI video

2024

Early AI video — rough, but real.

A person, a stage, a mic. None of it happened.

one year later

2025

A newsreader you couldn’t tell was fake.

The desk, the newsroom, her colleagues — generated, not filmed.

and next?

2026?

…and the internet already has thoughts.

AI’s own take on where this all goes.
Only half joking.

So what? · the sharp edge

Verification is dead. You can’t be sure what’s real — or who you’re really talking to.

$25m stolen from one firm via a single deepfaked video call. Fake candidates, fake references, fake interviews — already here.

Ch. 04 · AI + images