In a profound shift for modern society, the rapid proliferation of artificial intelligence (AI) and deepfake technology has effectively terminated one of humanity's oldest compacts with the natural world: the fundamental belief that seeing is believing. This erosion of trust marks the end of a remarkably brief era dominated by authentic, extraordinary mobile phone videos, argues journalist and novelist Manu Joseph in his compelling analysis dated 11 January 2026.
The Rise and Fall of the Eyewitness Video Era
The advent of the smartphone transformed global citizens into perpetual witnesses. For a time, the world was inundated with raw, unfiltered footage of events both tragic and awe-inspiring. Joseph recalls the chilling video from Minneapolis, where a bystander captured ICE agents during a raid, culminating in the shooting of a protesting woman. Such clips, covering everything from fatal accidents and executions to killer whales hunting seals, became commonplace.
This deluge had a paradoxical effect. The sheer volume of remarkable videos diluted our collective sense of shock and diminished our capacity for wonder. We transitioned from being witnesses to becoming mere consumers of tragedy and spectacle. Yet, a kernel of trust remained—the video evidence itself was considered incontrovertible proof that an event had truly occurred.
AI's Assault on Visual Truth and Human Wonder
That final layer of innocence has now been stripped away by AI. The proliferation of hyper-realistic, AI-generated videos has complicated our primal treaty with reality. Today, when we encounter an extraordinary event on screen, our first reaction is often suspicion—could this be fake? This skepticism actively tampers with our pursuit of wonder. As Joseph posits, if AI can fabricate reality so convincingly, it inherently diminishes the value and impact of genuine reality.
He notes the peculiar prevalence of fake AI videos depicting wild animals attacking women. These reels often betray themselves by being too perfect—too clear, too well-framed, and more remarkable than typical authentic footage. Ironically, AI has created a new paradox: anything that looks better than remarkable now carries a stamp of potential fakeness. Joseph predicts that as technology advances, deepfake creators will intentionally introduce clumsy framing and unremarkable action to mimic the authentic "bad luck" of human filming, making detection even harder.
A Glimmer of Hope and the Last Bastion of Wonder
Amidst this crisis of trust, a potential silver lining emerges. Joseph suggests that the flood of AI fakes might eventually restore value to authentic, real-life incidents, much like how over-the-top CGI in cinema has heightened appreciation for actors like Tom Cruise performing genuine, dangerous stunts. The real could become a premium commodity.
However, a significant form of wonder has been lost. Over the past half-decade, true videos numbed our shock, and now AI fakes have destroyed our trust in visual evidence. Joseph muses that only the appearance of aliens or God might shock us anew, and even that amazement would likely be fleeting before we grew accustomed and bored.
The final bastion of unquestioned, primordial wonder, according to the author, may now be images from space. He cites the global fascination with the first-ever "image" of a black hole—a reconstruction of data, not a direct photograph—which the world chose to believe. In that moment, humanity paid the ultimate compliment to science: it once again believed what the eye saw, holding onto a last vestige of the old pact.
