The Era of Unreality

A badge created by Beth Spencer who hosts the Introvert Drawing Club

How AI is shifting our realities and how we need to work together to get out of this mess

Note: None of this was written or edited by AI.

I heard an artist call this time period “The Era of Unreality” the other day. As he moved between videos and snapshots of 3D renders he had created vs. AI-generated ones on his tongue-in-cheek Instagram reel, it once more became painfully clear that reality as we know it has, and is, shifting. Jack Carden, the aforementioned artist, currently sells his human art of simplistic child-like drawings of “little dog” and “big dog” on his website at the moment. It almost feels as if he is taking the mickey a bit by selling a one-line drawing of a dog for 100 USD but I think that’s the point.

Jack Carden’s “Dog”

After doing some digging I realised his other artworks were also ones that questioned the value of art and what it means to be an artist – but that is a whole other subject, and one I won’t be touching on really here.

How are the children of today meant to navigate the world of bullying with AI-generated images flying left, right, and centre?

How are we ever meant to believe anything ever posted by any media outlet or institution ever again?

How is this all shifting the way that the “propaganda machine” brainwashes masses to the point of controlling their actions?

What can we not see regarding what’s happening at the moment - considering bot-farms and addictive social media algorithms are just the tip of the iceberg of the attention economy?

These are just a few questions that come to mind.

Meanwhile, Jack has also started a side project @human.verified on Instagram – where artists can DM to get their work verified as human. A bunch of other initiatives have spun up across the last few months such as “made by human” or “Created with human intelligence” or “Not by AI” badges (this one charges for your use - crazy imo!). And it seems that these badges will become ever more important as bots continue to reign over the internet, AI slop keeps appearing as LinkedIn posts or Instagram reels, or posters in our neighbourhoods pop-up with waiters serving coffee with six fingers.

Cubist Study of head, Elemér de Kóródy Hungarian, 1913 (Available the The Met Open Access)

This is a delicate issue to tread. There are many issues to discuss when it comes to the rise of AI ranging from the vast environmental impact, to the effect it will have on the job market, to the fundamental question of what it means to be creative, to create, to create art and music…, deepening inequalities and cultural homogenization etc. (See: UN Scientists: AI Is Threatening Natural Resources for Billions, WEF Future of Jobs Report 2025, Artists face steep income decline due to AI, UNESCO finds, Report of the Independent Expert Group on Artificial Intelligence and Culture).

When it comes to discussions on AI, I try to see the many sides to arguments being made for or against AI in order to synthesise my own views. As someone who finds technology exciting, the rise of AI at first, I confess, got me excited too. I, like many others, thought: “Think of all the possibilities!” That child-like excitement to start exploring something new – like the feeling people had when creating websites in the 90s. The implications for healthcare, education, and even helping solve the climate crisis - IF governed properly, could be immense (See: Ethics & Governance of Artificial Intelligence for Health, Artificial intelligence in personalized learning, Tackling Climate Change with Machine Learning, Artificial Intelligence (AI)-driven approach to climate action and sustainable development).

A small side note:

I think we need to consider our discussions on AI usage within different contexts. Applying the same logic across all scenarios risks distancing people from these conversations, and I feel that can be risky.

It’s important to not flat out judge someone for using the capabilities of AI if it is something that is keeping them alive, helping them make a living, or keeping them going in tough times. For example, I saw an Instagram user the other day who has been supporting cats for over 10 years through his music and content, be verbally lynched for creating an AI music video for his music. He himself explained later that he did this because he did not have the financial means at the moment, that he was grieving for his cat who had passed away, and was inspired to share his music in a visual way – which he could not do in any other way. Because of the abuse he received, he decided to shut his account down.

I think it’s also important to realise that we can help educate people around responsible AI usage instead of attacking them. I mean look, I’m a musician, and I think AI-generated music misses the point massively…but personally, I’m ok with someone experimenting with AI if it’s going to give them life and make them feel more creative. I think we have, sadly, moved beyond the point of copyright actually meaning anything (discuss). Musicians have been sampling for decades…could one argue this is just one step further? Personally, I enjoy the creative process – and I know many others also appreciate that too, which is why they will value human-made art and music as something with higher value. Those are the people I speak to. But I can’t judge anyone for making use of technologies that are out there, developing, and shifting multiple realities. I also can’t judge people for using AI to write to prospect clients if English is their second language or experimenting with tools such as generative art when it does feel like something new to them – I have been one of those people too. I’ve also been someone who has lost work due to the rise of AI (my voiceover work has reduced dramatically). I can really see where people are coming from, and I respect everyone working towards sustaining the livelihoods of artists worldwide.

What I can continue to do is learn more, try to be more responsible, and explore the consequences of my actions.

Collage with three elements, László Moholy-Nagy (Hungarian, 1895 - 1946)

Let’s remember, the word technology comes from “tekhne” (art, craft, or skill) and “logia” (branch of knowledge or study). When the printing press came along in the 1440s, many writers were threatened. In the 60s I’m sure several artists were probably incredibly against the “Print Boom” and the copying of their art to sell for the masses; something that Andy Warhol embraced (perhaps ironically a lot of his work is not available in the public domain). But this allowed those with lower budgets to become a part of the art world too, and hang paintings up in their houses, when previously they may have never had that opportunity. It made art more accessible. It made those who could not access information, buy books, and read.

It is not necessarily the craft, the art, or the tool itself that is the problem, but it is all about the responsible creation, use, and development of technologies that is the most crucial here.

Sadly, we all know that this isn’t how it is being created, used, or developed.

I’m aware that there are conversations and conferences happening around the world on Responsible AI use but sadly as with most things, Big Tech and certain governments are just pushing for more and more. They’re building data centres in already poor regions, destroying habitats, affecting both water quality and volume, and forcing residents to be exposed to the 24/7 45 to 55 decibel hum ruining people’s ability to sleep peacefully. This is horrific.

It is this competition mindset that has got us all in a whole lot of trouble in the first place.

The people developing these capabilities suddenly coming out and saying “Oh no, this is dangerous because AGI!” feels like a joke. Many individuals signed the Pause Giant AI Experiments letter back in 2023 (but neither OpenAI nor Anthropic did) or The Call for AI Ethics in 2020 signed by the Pontifical Academy for Life, Microsoft, IBM, FAO and the Ministry of Innovation in Rome. OpenAI instead talks about “How we can prepare for AGI and beyond” and recently Anthropic CEO talked about how “We Must Pace The Frontier.”

All this to say, I think Pandora’s Box has already been opened.

Lyubov Popova, Painterly Architectonic (1918) available from Artvee

For those unfamiliar, in Greek mythology, Pandora’s Box is a story that explains how suffering, illness, and evil came upon the Earth. Prometheus steals fire from the Gods to gift to humans. Zeus becomes enraged and wants to take revenge, therefore he creates a woman, Pandora and the Gods bestow upon her beauty, curiosity, intelligence, etc. He then sends Pandora down to Earth to marry Epimetheus, Prometheus’s brother. Although Prometheus warns Epimetheus to never accept a gift from the Gods, he is enamoured by Pandora and chooses to marry her. Zeus gifts Pandora a box for their wedding and warns her to never open it. Driven by curiosity she opens it one day – and before she can seal it shut, all (evil, suffering, illness) but hope escapes the box. It is hope that remains for humans as a way to deal with the chaos she has just unleashed.

And perhaps it is still hope that remains. In the 1980s we nearly destroyed the ozone layer. But in 1987 nations signed the Montreal Protocol to phase out ozone-depleting chemicals, and now it has healed by 99%. It IS doable.

I know this piece of writing has been swaying from here to there – but I believe this is how many people feel about this shift as well. There are so many things to discuss. So many things we are trying to hold onto. There are few anchors left holding us to the realities we so desperately need to be part of our existence: planetary well-being, community, collaboration over competition.

As we move into this “Era of Unreality” – it is worth pausing to decide what realities we need to continue and hold onto, as well as what realities will cause more chaos and damage than we can even foresee. Maybe there are still a few things in this metaphoric box that haven’t been released yet; perhaps they need to stay in there for a reason. I’m writing all of this to navigate my own feelings about all of this too because I feel we need to move beyond the dichotomies of Pro-AI and Anti-AI. The reality is we cannot suddenly seal Pandora’s Box, shut it and go back to the 1990s.

What we can do is have discussions openly, compassionately, and continue to work together to push for green AI, ethical AI, responsible AI, unbiased AI and more. We can also push for spaces that are strictly not AI as well. We must also be aware that there are many who will continue to push for AI’s development. We must find ways to all sit at the table together and listen to one another if we want a chance of moulding what is currently becoming and preserving those things which need to be preserved.