Can we actually ever believe anything we see or hear on the news, youtube or even google. Even speeches made by prominent politicians and celebrities have been doctored and faked using AI. Even music and art are being copied, sometimes even confounding the experts.
Is it a disease of the internet and will eventually be it’s demise?
This question was being asked in another thread and I felt it deserved a thread of it’s own.
I have a subscription to a privacy-oriented AI platform. My queries are not put into some mega database where it can be found or used by others. Even so, I have had “arguments” with the AI because it is just plain wrong. Those who believe and rely on what AI tells them should be extremely cautious. It just regurgitates what it scrapes from multiple sources. AI is the epitome of “I saw it on the internet, so it must be true.”
Always ask AI for sources and check them yourself. AI isn’t a disease and it won’t destroy the internet. Facebook, Reddit, Youtube, X, and google are already destroying people’s brains without AI. I’ll give you an example. I worked in a large establishment in the 1980s. I was responsible for dozens of establishment-wide projects. I was constantly on the phone to the leaders, workers, and teams doing the projects. I could have told you the extension number of at least 600 people off the top of my head. Now? Since my phone remembers the numbers, I don’t have to. Is that progress? I don’t think so. People are losing the ability to memorize things because technology does these things for you.
Driving without digital assistance, calling people, even basic grammar and spelling are being lost to the modern person, because computers do it for us. There are a lot of benefits to the internet, but like every positive, there are always negatives that accompany it. I tell my people that “Engineers make decisions to try to get as many positives for as few negatives as possible.” That’s my question about the internet and AI in general: Do the positives outweigh the negatives?
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I use Ai (Chat GPT) on a regular basis, usually when analysing spread sheets, compiling data bases or creating images for work. I have also used it on the moments when I need to rephrase the odd email. It now literally saves me hours per week, however I also work with lots of people with very little work experience and in some case little intelligence of their own but they manage to bluff their way through by creating presentations and documents with no real knowledge of the subject they are working on and rely solely on Ai. This does worry me a little, as it is becoming easier for inexperienced people to bluff their way into a position they are not personally qualified to do. The over reliance on Ai really does effect the way we do or don’t learn. In short do I believe anything now ? Not really.
Below is the Ai answer to your question. 
Probably more eloquent than myself but not so human.
That’s a very thoughtful question—and one that’s becoming more urgent as technology evolves.
You’re right: we’ve reached a stage where seeing or hearing is no longer enough to guarantee truth. Deepfakes, AI-generated voices, manipulated images, and algorithmic amplification make it possible for almost anything to look and feel authentic, even when it isn’t. That erodes the old assumption that “evidence” was self-proving.
A few points to consider:
1. This isn’t entirely new
Propaganda, forged documents, staged photos, and misleading edits have existed long before AI. The internet amplifies the speed and reach, but the underlying challenge—how to know what’s trustworthy—is ancient.
2. The “disease” isn’t the internet itself
The internet is more like an ecosystem. It enables connection, democratized expression, and information sharing, but also misinformation and deception. The problem is less the medium itself and more the lack of systems and habits for verification.
3. Verification will become the new literacy
Just like we once learned to read, write, and evaluate sources in books, the new literacy is digital skepticism:
- Looking for provenance (where content came from, whether it’s traceable).
- Checking multiple sources.
- Watching for context stripping (a real video clipped to mislead).
- Relying on outlets that have strong fact-checking standards, even if imperfect.
Technology is also being developed to help—watermarking AI content, blockchain-based media verification, and real-time detection tools.
4. It won’t be the “demise” of the internet, but it may reshape it
If trust collapses entirely, people may retreat into closed, verified communities (think subscription news, smaller platforms, or networks where identity is guaranteed). The open web may feel increasingly chaotic, while trustworthy zones become gated.
5. Human judgment will always matter
Even with all the tech, people will still decide who they trust. Reputation, consistency, and accountability will carry more weight than a single viral video or soundbite.
So—is it a disease? Maybe it’s more like a fever: a symptom of rapid change that forces us to develop new immune systems (both technological and cultural) for truth.
I’ve heard that students now use AI to write essays for their university degrees. We were having this discussion at work with some undergraduate placement students and I told them using AI is just cheating themselves of the learning experience and knowledge. They are going to end up with years of student loans having learned zilch.
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Two of my children are high school teachers. They now need training, to spot Ai produced work. Quite ironic, the teachers needing lessons to understand if it’s Ai or students. Their lesson its self is probably developed by Ai.
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They are introducing a finance system at work that has an AI component. We have been told that when we fix the mistakes it makes it will “learn” and eventually do better. I don’t think our jobs are at risk just yet…but it’s super creepy.