Opinion In the age of AI-doctored videos, find wonder in what is real

Once, there was fame. Then, the internet happened, and fame’s cousin, virality, entered the chat. Behind fame is a face, behind virality, a moment. Whether caught, captured or created on camera, a moment — free of the burden of a person and a personality — can drive views, profit, influence. If you can create it, you can mine it for all its worth — social media influencers, corporate sales teams and IT departments of political parties all have figured this out. This is why, as AI tools become handy, doctored and/or AI-created videos have been gaining ground. Recently, a video of a drunk man petting a tiger and offering it alcohol in Madhya Pradesh went viral. In comments sections and online articles, people expressed awe and suspicion: A moving scene caught on screen or a farce created by AI? Only long after its wide circulation did the fact that it was the latter come to light.

This series of events has now become par for the course. Today, on the internet, the fake sits right next to the authentic. Telling the two apart is near impossible — and nobody wants to be fooled. The result? Netizens who have turned into citizen detectives. Every viral video, every piece of music, art, or writing is met with suspicion. The joy of being able to relate to people across oceans, the excitement of discovering new talent, new art, and the awe at the universe revealing itself are all marred by a sense of distrust.

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In discovering how to crack the algorithm, then, what is lost is more than just authenticity: It is also the sense of wonder which the promise of authenticity once offered. After all, who doesn’t want a drunk man and a lonely tiger to be friends? Maybe then, what is needed is to look elsewhere. Step away from the internet and into the real world: Wonders still abound.